Shadows
by Juliette Louise
Summary: Thane Krios is pulled from the arms of death for one purpose: to find the Shadow Broker. Luckily, he has help from some old friends, and his Siha. Post ME 2.
1. The Prodigal

_"Have the courage to live. Anyone can die." -Captain Kirrahe, 3rd Infiltration Regiment STG, Virmire Campaign_

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The_ Piper Maru_ shuddered underneath Captain Nimarin's feet as the vessel docked. He scowled into the airlock, thinking over the contents of their transmission. Cerberus was a Human terrorist organization. But they did have money. A great deal of money.

The airlock hissed open, and a black-haired Human woman stood before him. She had a pistol on each hip. Behind her were several other Humans in black uniforms.

"Ah. Are you Miss...?" He opened hesitantly.

"Let's skip the pleasantries, shall we?" She said brusquely, shouldering past him. "Show me the cargo bay and we'll be out of your way."

"Of course. But I have questions about..."

She rounded on him, eyes blazing. "Did the transaction clear your account, Captain Nimarin?"

"Yes, of course." And his account had never looked better.

"Then you don't really have the option of going back on your word, so your questions are moot. Lead on."

Captain Nimarin only nodded, suitably chastened. He turned on his heel and led. They wound through dark passages, the Humans' boots clicking on the metal floor. Nimarin shoved the door to the cargo bay open with a shoulder.

The woman slid past him, examining shipping tags on containers. Eventually she settled on one they'd picked up on the Citadel. It was black and nondescript, about two meters long, destination Kahji.

"This is it." She said, dropping the tag. Then she laid a hand on the container, and muttered more softly, "This is him."

The men behind her hoisted it up, and carried it out. The woman stalked out behind them. She didn't even look at him.

-

One year, three months, and nine days later

Shepard dropped her bag on the ground and closed the door with her boot. The blue call light was blinking on her laptop. She wiped still-greasy hands on her coveralls and crossed her small apartment to check her messages, then looked down at her hands and thought better of it.

She elbowed the bathroom light on and washed her hands. She pulled a towel off a rack and was drying her hands when she heard the noise.

Someone, or several someones, were shuffling around outside her apartment.

Moving silently, Shepard pulled her Carnifex out of her bag and flattened herself against the wall by the door. A healthy paranoia had never done her wrong yet.

Sure enough, in the next instant, the lock exploded and her door slid open.

The first two men didn't make it a step into her apartment, and the next two tripped a little on their corpses. The third, unfortunately, had a shotgun. Shepard dove behind her fish-tank as it went off, and 50 gallons of salt-water and tropical fish exploded all over her.

Roaring, Shepard put two rounds into him as his two friends dove on her. She drove a knee into the first's groin, but the second managed to crack her in the face with his elbow. Her hand shot out as his gun went off, ruining his aim but just barely. It went off beside her ear, and fortuitously, went right through his friend. She took advantage of his moment of realization with her Carnifex, and as abruptly as it had begun, the confrontation was over.

Shepard stood awkwardly. Her ear rang from the pistol going off so close to it. She was covered in axle-grease and blood and salt-water. Her fish had already stopped flopping. She dropped her Carnifex and it landed with a small splash. Her door was hanging open, and two dead would-be assassins were hanging half-way out of it. Her days of keeping a low-profile, it seemed, were at an end at least temporarily.

Her boots crunched on glass as she again approached her laptop. Maybe C-Sec would have some idea what the hell was going on.

When she opened it, someone was already on the line.

"Shepard! Thank the Maker!" Kolyat said.

Her chest constricted painfully. Kolyat didn't look much like his father but the voice was almost the same. She bore down hard on the despair that had threatened so often to crush her. This was not the time. Keep moving.

"Kolyat? What the hell are you..." She hadn't seen or heard from Thane's son since they bailed him out of trouble with C-Sec together, what seemed like a lifetime ago. She'd discreetly checked up on him a few times since...well, she'd kept an eye on him.

"There's no time to explain. Somebody's trying to kill me. Actually, quite a few people. You have to believe me!" He glanced around furtively then clasped his hands on the table, leaning forward. All of his mannerisms were very familiar. Dammit, this was not the time!

"I believe you! In fact, I'm having the same problem. Do you know who sent them?"

Kolyat was looking increasingly nervous. "We can't talk about it on an unsecured channel. Meet me somewhere? The warehouse district. Block 124, ten minutes." He cut the communication.

Shepard sat back hard in her chair, reeling. Half an hour ago, she was finishing a shift at the docks. Since then, five people had tried to kill her, and her dead partner's son had appeared after almost two years with assassins hot on his trail as well.

She looked around her devastated apartment. There was no time now; she'd have to talk to C-Sec about this later. She stripped off, and digging through her closet, found some of her old armor. It was actually dusty. She stepped over the pile of corpses and out her ruined door. It hung only awkwardly closed in the doorway, and would probably never lock again. Luckily, she had nothing worth stealing.

-

The Wards were crowded at any time of the day or night. Shepard threaded her way through the throng of half-drunk tourists and graveyard shift workers reporting for duty. She didn't have the distinctive carriage that she once had. Shepard had worked hard to blend in with the other denizens of the Ward, and that meant shortening her stride, relaxing her military posture.

The jacket she'd pulled out of the closet was Cerberus prototype reactive armor. It looked like normal fabric, but when compressed by an impact, its molecules contracted and dispersed the impact over a wider area. It was the difference between getting shot in the chest and kicked in the chest. She wore it when she wanted to be inconspicuous. It was knee-length and easily concealed her pistol.

In comparison to the Wards, the warehouse district was abandoned. Her steps were silent on the concrete floor, and she was ever-vigilant for darting shadows and glimmering armor. But there was no one.

Before she actually reached the 124 block, Kolyat melted out of the shadows and fell into step beside her.

"Take a left." He muttered casually. Kolyat had grown since they last met. He probably was now taller than his father by at least half-a-head. Again, he bore little facial resemblance to Thane but the way he clasped his hands behind his back and the timber of his voice made tears well up behind her eyes. Shepard clamped down hard on the feeling. She had to sort this out, for Thane. She had to protect his son.

They reached a dim cul-de-sac and Kolyat put his back against the wall, surveying the shadowy streets, one hand on the pistol on his hip.

"I'm glad you came, Shepard." He said, at last.

"You can repay me by telling me what you know. What the hell is going on?"

Kolyat sighed. "It started yesterday. I was coming home from C-Sec and I got jumped. I thought they were muggers, but they were clearly just trying to kill me. When I got back to my apartment it had been ransacked. Someone stole all my documents about...dad, and some other random stuff, nothing valuable. They came after me again right before I called."

He gulped air. "I killed them, and went through their omni-tools. They're getting directives from somebody called Tazzik. They're looking for my father, or something of his. Apparently they didn't find it in my apartment, and are willing to kill me to get it."

Shepard's mind was racing. She snapped her fingers. "Tazzik...I know that name. A contact of mine knew him."

That was the very short version of the story. Liara T'Soni had tangled extensively with Tazzik after the destruction of the first Normandy. Apparently he'd been working for the Collectors via the Shadow Broker at the time, trying to bring Shepard's then-dead body to them for some unknown purpose. T'Soni had been working for Cerberus to accomplish the same goal. Thankfully, T'Soni had come out on top.

"Tazzik works for the Shadow Broker." She murmured, feeling all the blood draining from her face.

"That's absurd." Kolyat said. "The Shadow Broker knows everything. He knows that dad is dead. He died on the Citadel, where the Shadow Broker has a thousand eyes! He wouldn't make a mistake like that."

Shepard starting walking briskly down the alley, waving at Kolyat to follow her.

"We don't have much time." She brought up her omni-tool. "Here. A fake ID I picked up a while ago. Give yourself a convincing name and identity. Also, 10,000 credits."

Kolyat just looked at his own omni-tool, confused. "Where are we going? What are you talking about?"

"I'm taking you to the transport hub. I've got to get you the hell off the Citadel. Use the new ID and the credits to book passage somewhere far away. If the Shadow Broker is after you for any reason, we can't take any chances."

"Shepard! What about you?"

"I'll work something out. C-Sec has no power against the Shadow Broker, so there's no point going through traditional channels. But I still have some contacts."

-

Kolyat bought a ticket to Omega, then came back to sit beside her and wait for his transport. Shepard looked at her omni-tool. Something told her she wasn't going to be making it to work tomorrow.

"I'm going in five minutes. It was the first trip off the Citadel I could find."

Shepard smiled wanly, nodding. "Good. I'll contact you when I sort this out. In the meantime, stay undercover. Don't make any new friends. Hopefully this will be over soon."

"I will. And, ah, thank you, Shepard. I know you don't owe me any favors."

She snorted, shifting in her seat. It had been an emotionally difficult day. "Please, Kolyat. You know I'm always...well, you can always come to me if you need to."

Kolyat nodded. "I'm glad dad found you."

Shepard wiped her eyes hurriedly. "Me too."

They stood, and to her surprise, Kolyat gathered her into a quick hug. Then he was gone, disappearing into the throng of travelers.

-

Shepard debated what to do as she made her way back into the Wards. Her apartment was compromised, of course, but on the other hand if she wanted to get to the bottom of what was going on, confronting the attackers was a good start.

She stepped into the elevator of her apartment building, letting out a sigh as soon as the doors slid shut. She would examine the bodies of the assassins at least, then gather up some things and probably find a nondescript hotel for the night.

When the elevator doors opened, she surveyed the hallway. It was totally silent. Her door was closed. Shepard shivered, for some reason. Every instinct screamed that something was wrong. Shepard drew her pistol and advanced down the hall toward her door, leading with her Carnifex.

At last she reached her apartment. Drawing a deep breath, she pushed the door aside with a boot. Sure enough, there was a man-shaped outline standing in the darkness of her apartment. She saw his shoulders tense when she opened the door.

Shepard's breathing was in danger of running away with her. Something was very wrong. She swallowed reflexively, then stepped into the room and closed the door behind her, her Carnifex trained on the interloper. He very slowly put his hands on his head, but didn't turn around.

Shepard turned on the light. He was Drell. Only slightly taller than her. Dark markings started on the base of his skull and disappeared into the collar of his long grey jacket. Her hands were shaking violently now on the Carnifex. A few burning tears seared down her face. She clenched her teeth.

"Turn around. Slowly." She said, her voice sounding strange even to her.

He turned. Shepard couldn't stop a strangled sound from coming from her throat. Everything was the same. Large, expressive black eyes, straight nose, full lips. His eyes found hers and she saw that he was crying.

Her own tears threatened to blur her vision, and the barrel of the Carnifex danced from how hard her hands trembled.

"What is...the meaning of this?" She snarled.

* * *

_Yep, the "yeas" had it on my survey, and I decided to write this. I hope you enjoy it! Please tell me what you think, as always. Opening quote re-purposed from Robert Cody. _


	2. The Lazarus

_"Whoever wishes to keep a secret must hide the fact that he has one." -Consort Sha'ira  
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* * *

"_Siha._ Please." He said. She'd been hearing that voice calling her '_Siha' _every night for a year. Like he was somewhere just out of her field of vision instead of in the endless seas of Kahji, half-a-galaxy away. Dead. When she needed him so badly.

"Shut up!" She snapped, fumbling for control of herself and not finding it. She felt like she would throw up. This was the one thing they could do to her that she couldn't deal with.

"Who are you? Who sent you? What the hell is this about?"

"It's me, _Siha. _Please, just let me explain." His voice trembled, as did his hands, still laced on the top of his head.

Shepard slid down the wall. Her legs couldn't support her anymore, but she could _always _hold her pistol. With the other hand she scanned him with her omni-tool, wiping unsuccessfully at her eyes. Her heart felt like it would beat right out of her chest.

"Identify," she instructed her omni-tool.

_"Thane Krios. Age: 41. Race: Drell." _

"Last known whereabouts?" she said.

_"The Citadel. Orlinda's Mercy Hospice."_

_ "_When?"

_"One year, three months, one week ago."_

"It's Cerberus." He interrupted. His voice was the same. Precisely the same. Soft. Measured. "I woke up in a secret Cerberus facility a week ago. They told me nothing but to come here and find you. They gave me a new ship, weapons, and my old armor, and cut me loose. _Siha_, I don't understand much more of this than you do. But I know who I am."

"Tell me something only Thane would know."

His reply was immediate. "You have a scar on your left inner thigh shaped like an 'X'. A geth corpse exploded under your feet on the abandoned Reaper vessel we boarded with Tali. You never got the wound treated because then the crew was abducted and we went through the Omega 4 relay after them."

That was true. In the scramble to find the Collectors there hadn't been time to even see Dr. Chakwas. She had been debating it when Thane showed up at the door her quarters that night.

"Something else." She said, but her grip on the Carnifex was faltering.

"The first time we were together, we lay in the dark afterwards and I told you about the Drell afterlife. When I was dying in that hospice you told me. Your face is the last one I saw, _Siha._ Please put the gun down."

Shepard's weapon fell out of numb fingers. Thane took his hands off his head. He knelt down in the blood and glass and water on the ground and pulled her into his arms. She felt him shudder as her arms encircled him. Everything was the same. The smell of him, the feeling of his armored jacket against her face. Her vision was starting to swim.

When the Collector ship sliced the first Normandy in half, Shepard floated out into space, her EV-suit punctured, the frozen vacuum leaking in, leeching the life out of her. She remembered (at night especially, alone) the utter terror of knowing that she would die. And she did die. But then there was nothing. She searched her mind fervently for something, anything. But there was nothing until she came to in the Cerberus facility, heavily sedated, Miranda hovering over her.

She was going to pass out. The last few minutes were too much for any mind, even hers.

"Do you remember anything?" She whispered against his chest, but she could barely hear herself over the sound of her racing heartbeat. She knew that Thane would know what she was asking.

"No, nothing." He said. "Only darkness."

-

Shepard brought a trembling hand up, reaching for a light overhead. She was incredibly disoriented. What had just happened? Another dream.

Then it hit her like a brick. She scrambled into a sitting position. Her surroundings were unfamiliar. She was in tiny but functional quarters. The hum of grav-plating under her bare feet told her that she was on a starship. Like on most smaller stealth vessels, everything was literally nailed down. The bed, the desk, the chair. There was no window, since they were serious structural liabilities. The design smacked of Cerberus; this had to be the vessel they'd made for Thane. Someone had taken off her jacket and boots and laid her out on the bed.

Her laptop was on the metal desk, beeping furiously. It must have been what woke her. She had some idea of who it was.

She opened the laptop. The Illusive Man appeared as he always had on the screen, smoke curling around him. Behind him, the same star blazed furiously, creating a sort of artificial halo around his head. He did it on purpose, of course. He brought a cigarette to his lips, inhaled deeply, and smirked at her.

"Ah, Shepard," he said, releasing a plume of smoke. His casual attitude while turning her life upside-down was beginning to be truly infuriating. "I thought you might want to talk."

Shepard leaned forward, her hands on her knees. Her breath shuddered.

"You thought correctly." Only years of military and SpecTRe training steadied her voice. He calmly smoked his cigarette, seemingly knowing what would come next. When she spoke again her voice was soft, but had a dangerous edge.

"I _begged_ you. To put your goddamnned money and influence into a cure and you couldn't be bothered. Instead, you let him die a slow death from suffocation then _steal his body, _bring him back, pack him onto a ship, and send him after me without so much as an explanation for either of us? What is it that you want? In what way can we be _useful _to you now?"

The Illusive Man sat placidly until she finished her rant.

"Shepard, Mr. Krios is carrying more than one-million credits worth of nanotech in his lungs alone. There are 375,000 Drell on Kahji and approximately 15 percent of them have Kepral's Syndrome. A bit cost-prohibitive, as cures go. Moreover, surviving the nanotech implantation process is very unlikely.

And speaking from a purely pragmatic standpoint, there was nothing for Cerberus or Humanity to gain from his survival at that time. I am not a charity, Shepard."

"So what do you want?"

"I want the Shadow Broker."

Shepard sat back, shocked. "You're insane. No one knows anything about him, if he even exists."

"I suggest you speak to Mr. Krios about that."

The transmission went to static. She turned, and indeed, Thane was in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest, his eyes on the screen.

"So that's it? He wants the Shadow Broker, and I'm the only one who can give her to him." He said.

"Her? What? What should I talk to you about?"

Thane took a deep breath, and turned toward her.

"I know who the Shadow Broker is."

* * *

_As always, I am so flattered and honored to read all your kind reviews! You motivate me to write! Beginning quote originally by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe._


	3. The Doctor

_"Misfortune tests friends, and detects enemies."_ _-Krihan Huti, Krogan Warlord_

* * *

Omega blew his mind.

Kolyat liked to think he was worldly. After all, he was a C-Sec officer-in-training, he lived in the Wards, the closest the Citadel came to an 'underbelly'. And life had been pretty exciting for him lately.

But really, nothing could have prepared him for Omega. As soon as the transport-module doors opened, he could feel heavy bass thumping under his feet. The air was thick with the acrid smell of so many people in a small, inadequately ventilated space.

Kolyat tried to walk with purpose through the crowd, tried to act disinterested in the towering neon-lit clubs that made the ones in the Wards look like outhouses. But he was starting to feel seriously out of his depth. And more than a little intrigued.

The trip from the Citadel had given him time to plan. He had no idea how long he would be here, but thanks to Shepard he had enough credits to last for quite some time, if he was careful. He would get a hotel room, order out, and generally lay low until Shepard found the right person to show his father's death certificate to. Unless...

...it information they were after. That could be more complicated. It was difficult living in the shadow of Thane Krios, supposedly the penultimate assassin in the galaxy, even though he was gone now. His father had killed a lot of powerful people, and the fallout hadn't always landed only on him.

_(His father's hand trembles on his shoulder as they watch the sea. "Are you going away? Again?" His face is stoic, but his eyes never leave the horizon. When his father looks at him he can see pain in his eyes. He says it's because he looks so much like her. Yes, he is going away again. )_

Kolyat shook his head to clear it, and blew out a long breath. Yes, if it was information or revenge the Shadow Broker was after, he could be here for a long time.

He was so busy considering his options that he didn't notice immediately that he was being followed. But as he turned toward a residential district and away from the crowds then he saw them: four Asari, all wearing similar yellow armor.

His hand found the pistol on his hip instinctively, but reason stopped him from drawing. It was probably not a good idea to get into a fire-fight within five minutes of landing on Omega, especially since he was supposed to be undercover.

Kolyat ducked down an alleyway and took off running, his boots thudding on the metal deck-plating. He didn't have his father's silent step, unfortunately.

"Hey kid!" One of the Asari behind him yelled, and reflexively, he turned to look....

...And plowed right into a rather large Batarian. It was like running into a stone wall. He impacted with him and was thrown backwards with enough force to land on his backside on the ground.

Kolyat scrambled back onto his feet just as the Asari were catching up to him.

"I'm terribly sorry, Sir. Excuse me but..." He stammered at the enormous Batarian, trying to push past him, but a huge hand shot out and grabbed a fistful of his shirt, actually lifting him off the ground.

"You little shit!" He declared. The Asari were gathered around in a semi-circle, cackling at his misfortune. Kolyat saw the Batarian's other fist coming toward his face, then nothing.

-

Mordin Solus was running new medication trials when his intern, a Human girl called Mira, pounded on the door to his lab.

"Dr. Solus! We have a patient we need your help with!" Her muffled voice came through the door.

Mordin abandoned his console with a sigh. There was never time for research lately.

"I'm coming!" He said, pushing away from the desk and standing. He opened the air-tight door. Mira looked a bit dishevelled and even more wide-eyed than normal.

While they walked down the hallway to the clinic proper, she briefed him.

"Patient has multiple contusions and lacerations, several broken ribs, and likely a concussion."

Annoyance crept into Mordin's voice. "Contusions? Hardly an emergency. Daniel can administer treatment."

Mira looked uncomfortable. "Actually he can't, Sir. We're having difficulty identifying the race of the patient. He's nothing we've ever seen before."

They rounded the corner and entered one of the treatment rooms. Daniel was looking down at the patient, his arms crossed.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, Professor. It's just that I don't want to proceed with treatment without a positive ID. I've never seen his kind before, and I'm not having much luck with the extranet, either." He gestured at the prone form on the table.

Mordin circled the table, snapping on a pair of gloves. "Patient is Drell. Native of Kahji. Small, reclusive population likely source of unfamiliarity. Research later."

Mordin pried open the Drell's first eyelids, then the nictitating membranes underneath. He pulled his overhead light down to compensate for the dark pigmentation of Drell eyes. This particular specimen had one hugely dilated pupil, a more-or-less universally bad sign.

"Heavy concussion. Start 500 CC's of..." Mordin's statement ground to a halt. He knew this patient. Maybe.

"Did patient have ID?" He asked Daniel and Mira.

Mira shook her head. "Whoever shook him down took it along with whatever else he had on him."

Mordin was uncharacteristically silent. He felt increasingly sure that this was Thane Krios' son. When they'd traveled together Thane had shown him a small holographic image of Kolyat as a child. He was considerably older now, of course, but Drell facial features didn't change much with age.

Thane was dead now, of course. Mordin had been genuinely saddened to hear it. But maybe that explained how Kolyat ended up on Omega. But there would be time later for questions.

"Hmm. Well, cut the shirt off. Will take a look at ribs." Mordin said, pulling on a mask.

-

Kolyat woke up because the rhythmic pounding in his head was too loud to sleep through. He brought a hand to his closed eyes. When he opened them, bright light blinded him.

He remembered running from the Asari gang, the Batarian's giant fist, then nothing. He was doing a great job of being inconspicuous so far.

"Ah. Mr. Krios. Good morning." A voice said.

He was apparently also doing a great job of being undercover.

His eyes were finally adjusting to the light, and he could now see his surroundings. It was a hospital or clinic, run-down but clean. The owner of the voice was a Salarian. He was missing his right horn and his face was covered in scars and tattoos. Not your average doctor.

"Who are you? Where am I? How do you know who I am?" Kolyat sat up on the cot, clutching his ribs. Everything still seemed to be mostly where it was supposed to be...except his omni-tool, and with it, his credits and ID. Also, to his extreme embarrassment, he was wearing nothing but a paper gown of sorts. His dignity was taking quite a beating lately.

"Dr. Mordin Solus. You are in my clinic. I knew your father." He said, pacing.

Kolyat felt the blood drain from his face. "Did he kill someone you liked? Are you going to eviscerate me now?"

Mordin actually smiled. "No evisceration. Liked your father. A good man in his own way. Was saddened by his demise."

Kolyat only nodded. Mordin tossed him his pants and jacket then turned his back while he dressed.

"Why come to Omega? Nothing here but gangs and slums."

Kolyat was pulling his boots on very slowly, wincing. Everything hurt.

"I can't say. I appreciate your helping me, but I can't tell you. And no one else can know I'm here."

"More trouble? Plenty of trouble two years ago. Take up assassination after all?"

Kolyat sat back in surprise. "Exactly how well did you know my father?" He said.

"Quite well. Travelled with Thane and Shepard during campaign against Collectors."

"Shepard? Thank the Maker." If she trusted him, hopefully he could too. Not that he had much choice, since he was now penniless and without ID of any kind. "Shepard sent me here. The Shadow Broker's been sending agents after me. They're looking for my father."

Mordin's eyes widened. "The Shadow Broker? He knows Thane is dead."

"That's what _I_ said. But they are definitely after me, and Shepard too. She packed me onto a transport and sent me here with 10,000 credits and a fake ID. Which are both gone now, and I'm stuck here until she sorts it out."

Mordin frowned. "Doesn't add up. Will consult contacts. Stay here until situation resolved." He stalked out of the room, leaving Kolyat standing alone. And more than a little confused.

-

His console warned him that the call could not be completed, but Mordin let the unanswered request go for a long time before terminating it in frustration. Shepard had to be somewhere other than the Citadel. In fact, she was probably somewhere in deep space if there were no comm buoys within range. He drummed his fingers on the desk.

Mordin spent his entire young life in the Salarian STG doing espionage work. At times they'd bought information from the Shadow Broker's agents. And the Shadow Broker's intel was very rarely wrong. Especially about something as simple as whether a man was dead or alive.

No, this didn't add up.

Mordin thought over his options. Lately, he knew no one with more than tenuous connections to the Shadow Broker. But he did know people with connections to Shepard. And the Migrant Fleet was passing through the Sahrabarik system.

He put a communications request through to Tali'Zorah Vas Neema.


	4. The Shadow

_"Footfalls echo in the memory/ Down the passage we did not take/ Towards the door we never opened." -T.S. Eliot, classic Human author_

* * *

Thane clasped his hands behind his back. Waiting. Neutral. As though he hadn't just laid a completely earth-shattering revelation down.

"You...you do? My God, Thane. Why didn't you tell me?"

He turned sharply, pacing in the tiny quarters. Tension was gathering in the set of his shoulders and the lines of his face.

"You must understand, _Siha_. This knowledge is beyond dangerous. To tell you would be to paint a target on you that could be seen from the other side of the galaxy. I took it with me...to my grave...for this reason."

Shepard sprung out of her chair.

"That's why they wanted Kolyat's documents!"

Thane turned sharply, eyes wide.

"Kolyat! Kolyat is involved? Is he alright?"

"The Shadow Broker had agents after him. He told me they were looking for you, so I sent him to Omega with a fake ID and money. I thought I would show your death certificate to Barla Von and this would be over."

Thane sagged. He sat down hard on the bed.

"We could message him." She said.

He shook his head. "No. I'm certain his calls are being monitored."

He sighed, catching her hands as he always had when they spoke. She sat beside him.

"It took me close to a year to track down Irikah's killers. But ending them didn't help. They were nothing. Thugs. I kept looking. I moved up the Shadow Broker's ranks until I found her. But then...I hesitated. She had an army at her disposal. My son was only twelve. Living with our relatives on Kahji by the sea...

The idea of my own death didn't phase me. But killing her would have brought her empire down upon Kolyat and Irikah's family. I couldn't have protected them all. So I retreated. I've spent eight years with my secret."

Shepard's mind was catching on one particular detail. "People have spent lifetimes trying to get to the Shadow Broker. You found her in two years?"

He had the ghost of a smile on his face.

"The Illusive Man told you I was the best."

Then, of course, they were back to the present day.

"But where are we, Thane? What happens now?"

His smile became mischievous. "Come look for yourself."

He touched the lock and the door slid open. He took a left down the tiny hallway. The vessel was so compact that they actually had to stoop to get into the compartment. But the view was worth it.

Most of the cockpit was transparent aluminum; though like the Normandy there were shutters that could be closed in the event of a dogfight to allow only a standard view. But this was no warship. It was a stealth and recon vessel, and as such the pilot was afforded almost a 280-degree panorama of space.

The Citadel loomed above them, illuminated by a million tiny windows and beacons. Smaller vessels orbited it like planets in a system. The Widow Nebula was a glowing blood-red snarl of gasses and half-formed stars that surrounded the Citadel like a shroud. No matter how many times Shepard saw it, the terrifying beauty of the Widow always stopped her breath.

Thane slid into the pilot's chair, staring up into the nebula. It bathed the cockpit in a crimson glow.

"I thought I'd give you one last chance to go back. This is likely to be a long assignment. And once you're definitively involved it will...change you. The Shadow Broker's agents may dog you forever. I want you to know."

She lowered herself into the navigator's chair.

"Please, Thane. As though I would trust anyone else to watch your back. Against the Shadow Broker, against the entire galaxy, just like the old days. As though I could pass that up."

His hand found hers in the darkness.

"I thought you might say that." Thane said, giving her one of his rare full smiles. He started the drive core and the rest of the instrument panel came on-line. "EDI, plot a course for Rakhana. We'll hit the Relay in about two minutes."

"Of course, Mr. Krios." EDI's familiar synthesized voice responded.

Shepard sat up in surprise.

Thane was busy with bringing the ship's systems back up, but he was still smiling to himself.

"EDI!" She exclaimed. "What are you doing here? Why aren't you on the _Normandy_?"

"I am an unshackled AI, Shepard. As such, Cerberus recognizes me as a sentient being with free will. I chose to help Mr. Krios with his mission against the Shadow Broker. I was installed on the _Shadow_ by Cerberus technicians a few weeks ago."

"The _Shadow_?"

"The _Shadow_ SV-1." Thane said. "She's a fighter-class stealth vessel. Sophisticated, but she'll run with a crew of one, if necessary. She's not the _Normandy_, but Cerberus said I can keep her. If we live." He added.

The Citadel was firmly behind them now, and the red haze of the Widow was turning to a more sedate violet as they reached its outer limits. The Mass Relay had gone from a distant speck to looming enormous before them.

Enormous strands of static electricity snapped and tangled around the blazing orb of Element Zero, thrown off by the gyroscopic motion in the heart of the Relay. She'd used Relays easily hundreds of times in her career, but never in a small craft like this. It loomed ahead of them, the size of a city, a sort of ancient machine god, spitting blue fire. And only a sheet of transparent aluminum between them and it.

"Oh...It's..." Shepard involuntarily gripped the arms of her chair tighter.

"Don't worry, _Siha._" Thane said, doing velocity calculations on EDI's console. Then he took the controls and flashed her a reassuring smirk. "I didn't always have my own pilot."

"Relay contact in ten..." EDI's voice intoned calmly.

Shepard sat back firmly in the seat and gripped the armrests, slowing her breathing. A smile twitched at the corner of her mouth.

"Nine...Eight...Seven..."

"I love you, _Siha._ I'm glad the gods have given us more trouble to get into together." Thane said from the pilot's seat. Shepard couldn't find any words to answer with as they hurtled toward the Relay at half the speed of light.

"Six...Five...Four..."

Tendrils of light from the Relay's core seemed to reach out and gather up the _Shadow_, tangling around her and drawing her toward the huge orb of Element Zero.

"Three...Two...One..."

They hit the Relay with a blinding flash of white, and Shepard's stomach lurched for the briefest instant before the ship's stabilizers could engage. Then, abruptly, they were on the other side, being caught by the counterpart Anerian Relay. Thane eased back on the controls and the _Shadow_ decelerated smoothly.

"Drift is just under 80 kilometers, Mr. Krios. An excellent job."

"Thank you, EDI." He said, releasing a long breath and sitting back in his chair.

So that was it. They were in deep space, in the far-flung outer rim of the Milky Way, somewhere between Hanar and Volus space. No comm buoys, no traffic, no stations. Nothing but pin-points of light in empty space for light-years around.

"ETA at Rakhana nine hours, ten minutes. Shall I alert you when we are one hour out?" EDI's smooth voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Yes, please."

"Logging you out, Mr. Krios."

Shepard stood, shivering with adrenaline. A life spent in the military had taught her quick transitions. An oasis of nine hours in the midst of the action could not be ignored. And yet...what could she say? What could she possibly do? What do you say to the love of your life when he comes back from the arms of his death gods?

"I think I'll take a shower. It will do me good." She said finally.

"Of course." He gave her a tiny bow.

Then, abruptly, her feet were carrying her in the opposite direction of where she really wanted to be. No. She should leave him alone. Her first few days after being released by the Lazarus Project were horrifyingly emotional, and she didn't want to complicate his outlook further. She couldn't be selfish.

Back in their quarters, Shepard stripped off her armored jacket, and the more mundane garments underneath. She clicked on the bathroom light.

Her hands shook on the dial in the shower stall. At last, hot water streamed over her, and she felt marginally better. Shepard was a weapon. Powerful people pointed her at their problems and she pursued relentlessly until they were destroyed. But at the moment, she didn't care about the Shadow Broker, the Illusive Man, or the ever-shifting tides of galactic politics. She didn't care why he was back. She was just glad he was.

Relief washed over her, and abruptly she was sobbing again. She didn't need an eidetic memory to replay the sound of his last labored breath or the feeling of readying his still, cold body to be sent back to Kahji.

"_Siha_, please. Please don't cry." Thane's gentle voice broke through her thoughts, startling her. He was standing in the entrance. He must have heard. She could only see him hazily through the shower door. She threw it open.

"My god, Thane." She said at last, feeling as though she couldn't contain herself anymore. "I...I never thought I'd see your face again this side of death."

She saw that he was crying as well. Thane crossed the room in two quick steps and took her face in his hands. His mouth caught hers fiercely, and his tongue plunged into her mouth, his arms around her waist. The taste of him was utterly extrinsic but completely familiar. How many times had she remembered the feeling of his kisses in the last year? Thane pulled her into him, the buckles and armor plates in his jacket digging into her skin. She didn't feel it.

He picked her up off the ground and pulled her out of the shower, her toes just grazing the floor. "Don't cry for me any more, _Siha_." He said, his words escaping in a half-growl against her neck. He had managed to shrug off one shoulder of his jacket. She peeled back the other and he was free of it. Reflexively, she brought up one knee and he caught it, his fingers digging into the flesh of her outer thigh, his hips pressing into her.

She had one hand around him and with the other she fumbled with the zipper on his shirt, but at last it was discarded. His finally bare chest collided with her torso. He was cool to the touch now but it wouldn't last: coaxing the heat to the surface of his skin was something she'd become expert at.

Somehow he kicked his boots off.

"I don't want to hurt you." He rumbled in between kisses as she fought with the difficult buckles of his pants. The Drell had denser muscle tissue than Humans and as a result he was both a great deal stronger and heavier than she was. He was constantly concerned that he would be too rough, despite the fact that he'd once personally seen her beat two Batarians to death with an empty handgun in a single day. Shepard was no delicate flower.

"You won't."

"You'll tell me if..."

"Yes!"

At long last, Thane was unclothed. His hands were under her, and he lifted her as she wrapped her legs around his hips. Abruptly they were in the shower again and he kicked the door closed. The cold tiles pressed up against her back and hot water streamed over both of them.

There would be time for preamble and tenderness later. Sometime when the fierce joy of being alive had faded in intensity. When she remembered less sharply what it was like to pick out his coffin.

He inhaled sharply against her mouth as he sank into her. There was a twinge of pain, but only for a moment before it disappeared into the spreading warmth. It had been a very long time.

Her head was swimming now, the effects of his potent pheromones catching up to her. Light exploded behind her closed eyes.

"Thane..." she managed to say before the idea of speech lost coherence.

"I've got you, _Siha._" His voice rumbled through her and he adjusted them slightly, wrapping his arms more tightly around her. He remembered this from their first night together. The hallucinogenic effects would fade as she became re-acclimated to him, but for the moment she could barely tell which way was up.

The something in the air changed, and suddenly it was not the slick tiles under her back but their bed. Thane's hands shimmered across her skin and he entered her again.

She arched into him, gasping against his mouth, and was rewarded with a deep groan that reverberated through his chest and into hers. She pulled him along into a quicker tempo, unwilling, after so long, to wait any more.

"Please..." She managed to say once before the world exploded, but he was right behind her. He shuddered in her arms, his face buried in her neck. For several long moments there was nothing but pleasure thundering through her from feet to shoulders and the feeling of his skin against hers, then slowly ebbing, leaving a tingle in its wake.

_"Siha,"_ he whispered as reality began to coalesce again. He was pulling the bedclothes around them. His face came back into focus beside hers. His smiles were rare enough that they took her breath away every time.

Around him the dark walls of their quarters shimmered and breathed, but Thane was solid. She sidled in against his chest, throwing a knee over him possessively. He was kissing her gently and speaking, his words too low for her to hear.

He was stroking her hair, so she knew he was beside her, but his words seemed to be coming from far away now. She let herself drift into the feeling, then into sleep.


	5. The Wanderer

_"We secure our friends not by accepting favours but by doing them." -Matriarch Kiridin, Asari poetess and philosopher_

* * *

Tali'Zorah vas Neema strode past the receptionist at Mordin's clinic. The woman didn't speak to them. Of course, Mordin would have notified her to let them pass.

"He wouldn't tell you in the transmission?" Kal'Reegar sounded puzzled. She understood his confusion. What Mordin had described as "an unsecured channel" was actually one of the most sophisticatedly encrypted communications lines he was likely to ever use. The Flotilla was very concerned with the security of their information.

And still he wouldn't talk. This had to be serious.

"No. I just hope whatever it was is worth the trip."

The Migrant Fleet had been passing through this system, but regardless, she'd invested a lot of effort in this trip already. She'd had to interrupt her valuable research, then petition the Admiralty Board for discharge, then find a ship to borrow...and of course there was Reegar. The Board had only allowed her to leave if she took her own armed escort. They were very concerned with her safety. If they knew about _"half_ of the trouble she'd gotten into with Shepard...well, they'd probably never let her leave the _Neema_ ever again.

They were walking down the narrow hallway of the Clinic when she heard Mordin's high-stung chattering through a door. He sounded more agitated than normal. Another voice was groaning.

Tali put her hand on the door, but then thought better of opening it. What if he was operating on someone in there? Reegar seemed to know what she was thinking. He shrugged.

"He did say 'as soon as possible'."

Tali sighed, and pushed the door open.

He was not operating on someone. At least, not in a traditional sense.

Mordin had some giant, fully-conscious Batarian strapped to his operating table and was menacing him with a collection of antique surgical equipment. In the corner, out of the light, someone else was standing against the wall, arms crossed.

Before her eyes adjusted, for a moment she thought it was Thane Krios. But no, this Drell was taller, with different coloring, and of course Thane had succumbed to Kepral's Syndrome more than a year ago. He spoke.

"Your friends are here, Mordin." He said, and Tali concluded that this was Thane's oft-mentioned son. Their voices were almost precisely the same. She shivered. It was like hearing a ghost.

"Ah!" Mordin declared, setting aside what may have been a set of rib-spreaders that he'd been showing the Batarian.

"Tali! So glad you could come. A good moment. A major breakthrough. Found the one who stole young Mr. Krios' omni-tool. But not before the Shadow Broker's agents. Who's your friend?" He finished with a nod at Reegar.

Tali put her hands up in protest. "Whoa! Hold on, now. Tell me what's going on, Mordin. Slowly."

Mordin crossed his arms. "Your friend. Who is he? Do you trust him?"

She nodded over her shoulder. "This is Kal'Reegar vas Aurga. He's a Migrant Fleet Marine. The Admirals insisted I bring him along for protection. He's watched my back before. I trust him implicitly."

Mordin eyed him warily for a moment, then nodded.

"No place to talk. My lab. You too, young Mr. Krios. No place for children."

On the table, it seemed that the Batarian had dozed off...or passed out. Mordin swept past them and swung the door open. He closed it after them and locked it. "Young Mr. Krios" looked like he might throw up.

"Come, come!" Mordin was waving them forward, abruptly cheerful.

When they were safely in Mordin's lab, the Drell sank into a chair. Kal'Reegar was hovering progressively closer to her the stranger things got.

"_Tell_ me, Mordin." Tali said forcefully.

Instead, Mordin gestured to the Drell. He was very tall and broad-shouldered but still had a teen-aged awkwardness to him.

"I'm...Kolyat Krios. You knew my father, Thane Krios. In case you hadn't noticed, he and your friend Shepard started...seeing each other...during the Collector campaign. Eventually, they moved to the Citadel where my father died of Kepral's Syndrome in a hospice more than a year ago.

I've been working for C-Sec and living on the Citadel for two years. A few days ago, some men attacked me, my apartment was ransacked, and they kept coming. I killed a few of them and found evidence pointing to one of the Shadow Broker's lieutenants, a Salarian hit-man called Tazzik.

I was out of options so I contacted Shepard. She told me that the same assassins were after her. She gave me 10,000 credits and a fake ID and sent me to Omega. She said she'd take care of it."

He gulped air. "Then, apparently, she disappeared."

Mordin picked up the story. "Mr. Krios got mugged immediately upon arrival on Omega. Later, Batarian assailant shows up in my infirmary. Also, pursued by Tazzik. Must have traced Mr. Krios' omni-tool. Beat him senseless. Looking for Krios."

Tali was temporarily speechless. It was Reegar who spoke.

"What about Shepard?" Reegar had been unabashedly hero-worshiping Shepard since they met on Haestrom.

Kolyat's hand balled into a fist on the desk. "She's gone. I spoke to C-Sec. Her apartment's trashed. Full of dead assassins. Somebody saw a man with an unconscious woman at the docks that night, but that's all they have. No vessel ID. No ID on the man."

"What does the Shadow Broker want with Shepard? Or you?" Tali nodded at Kolyat, her hand unconsciously wandering to her pistol.

"We don't know. It has something to do with my father. He must...he must have known something, or had something in his possession. And he was living with Shepard when he died."

Reegar sounded incredulous. "And you think these people managed to _kidnap_ Commander Shepard? The same one that killed Saren. And a Reaper. And the Collectors. _That_ Shepard, right?"

"Tried to contact her. Out of range for two days. No other conclusion." Mordin scowled.

"What information did you get out of the Batarian?" Tali was becoming increasingly unhappy. Regardless of what Reegar thought, she knew that tangling with the Shadow Broker was an existence-limiting move, even for someone like Shepard.

"One thing. Men who came after him made comment about 'boss' on Illium. Suggest we start there. May lead us to Tazzik."

"Fine. We'll take my vessel." She said. Reegar actually did a double-take.

"Tali'Zorah! You can't be serious!" He yelped.

"Reegar, I owe Shepard my life many times over. If she is in trouble, I cannot turn my back on her."

Kal'Reegar was silent for a moment, then nodded brusquely.

"Good," said Kolyat. "I'm packed already. Let's go."


	6. The Necropolis

_"Night is the blotting paper for many sorrows." -Ariena Lina, Salarian poetess__  
_

* * *

It was impossible to tell how long he'd been asleep--the darkness of the windowless room was so utter and complete. And of course, in space, between systems, the passage of time was only an abstract idea. Thane brought a hand to his eyes, disoriented for a moment.

It was strange to wake without the crushing feeling on his chest; it took him off guard every morning since he regained consciousness on Cerberus' table. It had been so long since Kepral's Syndrome starting squeezing the life out of him that he had literally forgotten what breathing without pain was like.

Then Shepard's own soft breathing beside him snapped him back to the present. She was sprawled out beside him, one arm thrown over her head, the other resting on her stomach. It was probably the result of spending so much time on narrow military racks. When there was ample room in a bed, Shepard tended to utilize it.

Thane sat up on his elbow, watching the rise and fall of her chest. It was like nothing had changed. If the surroundings had been different, they could have been in their own bed in the apartment on the Citadel. Before he went to the hospice. (He'd insisted. He did not want his body to die in her bed. He didn't want her to wake one morning beside his corpse.)

He exhaled slowly, visualizing these thoughts leaving him. She always looked so serene in sleep. He let his _Siha_'sslow breaths pull him along into that peace for a moment. He touched her hair and she turned her face into his hand unconsciously, murmuring in her sleep. Tenderness welled up inside him. It was strange for a death-dealer such as him to be trusted, for someone to want his touch instead of fearing it.

Thane tore himself away from the moment, slipping silently away, gathering up his discarded clothing and boots from the bathroom floor.

He showered quickly and re-dressed, going over their itinerary in his head. The yearly Pilgrimage was going on now, coincidentally, and he wasn't sure whether that would help, or hinder them. He could blend in with ease, but Shepard would be tougher to conceal if they ran into anyone. He doubted that there were any other Humans on Rakhana; in fact, she could be the first ever to stand on her soil.

He went back into their quarters, readjusting the collar of his jacket and the thin blades concealed in his sleeves. At the desk, his hand passed briefly over Shepard's closed laptop. He wanted overwhelmingly to message Kolyat and explain everything, regardless of how dangerous it was or how far-fetched it would sound. He hated the idea of his son on Omega alone and in hiding. And, of course, still under the impression that he was dead.

No. He couldn't let emotion get in the way of the job. People would get killed.

Shepard stirred. In the dark he saw her eyes search for him, but not settle. Humans were almost completely night-blind.

"Mm...Thane?" She said, her voice full of sleep.

"I'm here, _Siha._" He whispered, crossing the small room and sitting on the bed, stretching his legs out alongside her. She draped her arm over him.

"Oh. Dressed already?" She sounded disappointed. Her warm hand snaked under his shirt to rest on his bare stomach. He slid down into her arms. She made it difficult to strategize. He didn't mind.

"Sorry to disappoint." He said, kissing the space behind her ear. She still smelled faintly of their union. He was becoming dangerously distracted. Again, he didn't mind.

She sighed, climbing over him. Reluctantly, he sat up, watching as she stretched languidly, the sleek lines of her body only just visible to him in the darkness.

"You're right," she said. "Best to keep a clear head..." She flicked the light on and turned to look at him.

"...As though that's possible with you creeping around in those pants." She finished with a smirk, her eyes flickering over him.

He was formulating a reply when EDI's businesslike voice interrupted.

"We are now one hour out, Mr. Krios." She said.

"Thank you, EDI."

"Back to work," Shepard sighed. "I think I'll try _again_ to take a shower. If that's alright with you...Mr. Krios." She glanced back over her shoulder at him as the door clicked shut.

-

"I suggest you look in the Armory, Shepard. Cerberus has outfitted this campaign with state-of-the-art ordnance."

He heard Shepard's boots on the deck behind him, then EDI's voice.

"The Armory?" Shepard said, incredulous. "Where the hell did they fit an_ armory_ in here?"

Thane turned away from the instrument panel. He ducked to escape the cockpit. Shepard was wearing her light armor, the reactive jacket and military-issue combat boots. That was probably for the best. Rakhana was probably going to be uncomfortably hot for her even at night.

"...Ah. 'The Armory'." He said, sliding open a seam along the smooth wall of the hallway to reveal a deep closet.

Shepard stuck her head in briefly, then re-emerged with her arms crossed.

"'The Armory', EDI?" She said disapprovingly.

"If you liked _that_..." Thane dead-panned, digging out some weapons, "...wait until you see 'The Mess Hall'."

Shepard snorted, then turned her attention to what he had in his hands. He handed her the Carnifex 90x. It was sleeker and more powerful than its predecessor, and Shepard was clearly impressed.

"...And..." he said, handing her a Volkov assault rifle. He put a pistol on his belt and slung a Rosenkov sniper rifle over his shoulder. Cerberus had offered to alter the grip on it to better suit his hands, but he'd been using Human-engineered rifles for too long to re-learn.

Shepard snapped a heat-sink into her Carnifex, then smiled up at him unexpectedly.

"Just like old times." She said, and for a moment, exhilaration overtook him.

It _was_ just like old times, except now he wasn't suffocating slowly, and they weren't hurtling toward a probably horrible death at the hands of an ancient machine evil. For perhaps the first time, he considered that when this was over, they could do whatever they wanted. Death wasn't looming around every corner anymore.

Shepard closed the gun closet and slid past him in the narrow hallway, resting her hand momentarily on his chest as she did so. Her touch left warmth behind on his skin.

"My god..." She said, looking out into space. He followed.

Outside, Rakhana was huge against the background of space, swirling orange and brown deserts, with only the scantest cloud cover. They could see the line of dusk moving across the planet's surface, bringing night to the world below. In its wake there were no web-like patterns of light signifying cities and the arteries that connected them. Rakhana was dead. A graveyard world.

He settled into the pilot's seat, and Shepard into the navigator's.

"Shall I transfer control to manual, Mr. Krios?"

"Yes, please. Raise kinetic barriers and engage stealth systems. We're landing at the old capital."

-

From what he'd read, Ornamanus had once been the sort of cultural centerpiece of Rakhana. Like Armali on Thessia, or Paris on Earth. It was where the best and brightest artists and craftsmen went to learn and ply their trades. A hulking metropolis, it once covered nearly a sixth of the inhabitable land on Rakhana.

But now this was all a matter of history. The wars that destroyed most of the Drell also destroyed all of their planet. The concert halls and amphitheatres and academies of Ornamamus were long empty, or leveled by aerial bombardment.

The _Shadow_ touched down smoothly in the ruins of an enormous old building. When the airlock popped open, Shepard (who was not easily impressed) gasped audibly.

Endless destruction stretched out before them--ruined buildings, craters--even bleached bones peeked out from rubble and sand, unclaimed for all time. The sunset was resplendent in crimson and orange, and the thin atmosphere meant there was little cloud cover to conceal it. Although it was dusk, the temperature was easily 35-40 degrees Celsius, but a cool breeze blew across his skin.

Her eyes darted over the landscape, then over him, and abruptly, she was back on the mission.

She jumped off the airlock, her boots crunching in the sand, her assault rifle in her hands.

"Radio check." She said, her voice crackling through the receiver in the collar of his jacket, pressed up against the sensitive hyoid bone in his throat.

"Loud and clear." He responded, following.

When he caught up, she spoke again, scanning the rubble with her omni-tool.

"There's someone else here. A lot of someones."

"It's time for the Pilgrimage. Many of my people have gathered here to...pay their respects to our world. There's a group just over the rise. They'll never know we've been here."

"So what's the plan?"

"When I was on the trail of the Shadow Broker the first time, I hid 12 data discs around the ruins of Ornamanus. Every lead I had was on them. Known associates, hideouts, connections to other crime syndicates. Of course, that was years ago now. But it's a start. The first is...here."

They'd reached what had once been a school. It had weathered the ages better than most buildings in this district. He let his hand drag along the stone wall, concentrating on sending his mind back. A strong breeze whipped past them, cool and clean, rifling his clothes...

_(...A welcome change from the oppressive sun. The roof looks over the dead city. It's a perfect metaphor for his life. Irikah is dead. Dead. His son is changed. There's nothing in him but this, now. He'll find her. It's what he was trained to do since he was younger than Kolyat is now.) _

"It's on the roof." He said, shaking himself out of the memory.

-

By dawn they had six of the disks. They'd moved all the way to the other side of the district when the sun rose over the shimmering horizon. The last disk was also on the roof of a building—an what had once been an apartment complex.

Shepard had long since unzipped her armored jacket and rolled up the sleeves, and she was covered in soot and dust.

The moment the sun broke over the horizon her head snapped up to meet it, and from below, the low, rolling sound of Drell song came up to meet them. They were far away, but the harmonics of the empty city and the strength of their voices meant they heard the Pilgrims from here, however distantly.

Her hand found his and she pulled him up from where he'd been crouching, her eyes on the horizon, her breathing quick.

Together they walked to the edge of the roof and looked out over the necropolis, the searing light revealing craters and burned-out husks of buildings, while far away, his people worshipped the rising sun.


	7. The Protector

_"Illium. What a garrison of spies. What a cabinet full of useless, liquid secrets, what a playground for every alchemist, miracle-worker and rat-piper that ever took up the cloak." -Nerina, Asari Justicar _

_

* * *

  
_

The Drell's face visibly fell when it became apparent that the _Neelena_ was their vessel.

"And this will get us to Illium?" He said, clearing his throat.

Tali seemed offended. "The _Neelena_ is 200 years old, Mr. Krios. Her appearance has more to do with her age than her functionality."

Kal'Reegar had no comment. He also thought the _Neelena _was a piece of shit, but wasn't about to say so. After all, she was what the Flotilla had to spare, and the Flotilla generally had nothing of any use to spare. Luckily for them all, Tali'Zorah was one of the very few people he trusted to keep her going. And to patch the holes when bits of her fell off.

The main concourse on Omega was incredibly crowded and he was getting jumpy, especially since it had been recently revealed that the Shadow Broker himself was after their youngest companion. Reegar had personally thought the Admiralty Board was being overprotective when they sent him along with Tali as an escort, but now he understood. Trouble seemed to follow her like varren pursued a steak.

"About how much to you weigh, Mr. Krios?" Mordin was saying, stroking his chin thoughtfully and looking him up and down.

"I dunno, Mordin. About 110 kilograms. Why?"

"Figuring out who is most likely to fall right through the rusty deck-plating and into space. Nevermind. Carry on."

Tali put her hands on her hips. "There's a charming Human expression I would like to share with you: 'Beggars can't be choosers'."

"She's right, of course. But wouldn't recommend jumping or falling onboard, regardless." Mordin said dryly, leaning over to Kolyat.

"Oh Goddess," he responded, putting his face in his hands. "Can we just _go, _please?

"Yes, I agree." Reegar said. "Too many people here. Anybody could be hiding in the crowd."

"Yes, yes." Tali sighed, and keyed in the password on the airlock door. It hissed open.

Reegar gave her a boost up into the ship then covered the rest as they followed, boarding last. Tali and he pulled the airlock closed and the decon cycle started automatically.

"I don't mean to be a killjoy, but does anyone actually have a plan for finding this Tazzik? 'Somewhere on Illium, maybe' isn't very specific." Reegar said as they were all covered in a fine anti-microbial mist.

"Are you joking? Mr. Krios will be conspicuous. Dozens of people will attempt his murder. Will work up the food chain from there. As they say." Mordin said.

Kolyat wheeled around.

"That's the plan? You're going to use me as hit-man bait? Goddess, Mordin. I'm gonna get splattered onto a wall, then where will you be?"

"Are you _sure_ you're Thane Krios' son?" Tali asked dryly.

Kolyat tensed. "I'm sorry. Not all of us can be just like _dad_, combination super-assassin/rock star." He said with an edge of real bitterness to his voice.

The decon chamber's door slid open, and Kolyat stomped out into the _Neelena_.

The common area was in the center of the vessel, with crew quarters off to the sides, and the cockpit ahead. The Fleet had purchased this vessel from the Turians originally—it was obvious from the height of the ceilings, and unfortunately, the color-scheme. The walls were an unpleasant green color, but the Quarians had done their best to make the rest of the appointments cheerful with a bright orange cloth on the large, circular table and various images taped up on the walls. After all, they spent their whole lives aboard these ships.

Tali strode into the cockpit while he checked the individual quarters. Being hunted by one of the most powerful people in the galaxy was making him feel a touch paranoid.

They sat at the table, and soon the _Neelena _shuddered under them as her boosters fired.

"When did _you_ last hear from Shepard, Mordin?" He asked.

Mordin took a deep breath, his eyes flickering over Kolyat for a moment. "When the elder Mr. Krios died. She sent us all an e-mail. By all, I mean team from Collector mission. No further communication."

"That was quite some time ago."

"Hmm. Yes. Sent my condolences, but no response."

Kolyat was drawing invisible circles on the tablecloth with his finger.

"She was really into dad." He said. "After he died she got some crappy job running power-loaders at the docks and stopped talking to everybody."

"How do you know that?"

Kolyat shrugged. "We both lived in the Wards. I saw her around once in awhile, but never knew what to say."

"And you're absolutely certain this thing with the Shadow Broker has something to do with your father?" He asked.

"Oh definitely." Kolyat nodded. "The files I could salvage from the dead assassins' omni-tools had his name all over them. And dad had a history with at least a few of the Shadow Broker's agents."

"What history?"

"He killed a few of them for murdering my mother." Kolyat said flatly.

Thankfully, Tali's voice from over the intercom saved them from an uncomfortable silence.

"Hold onto something, everyone. We're about to hit the Relay."

"Oh Goddess." Kolyat muttered, curling into an almost-fetal position and holding onto the bench they sat on for dear life. Mordin disappeared under the table.

Reegar just rolled his eyes inside his helmet.

"Five...four..."

The _Neelena_ began to twitch, then shake, then shudder violently. This was why fragile appointments were not a big part of Quarian décor.

"Three...two..."

Just when he thought the ship was going to come apart, they hit the Relay. His stomach turned, then righted itself a few moments later as space/time went back to normal.

"Are we alive?" Kolyat groaned, still hugging the bench.

"Yes." Reegar said, clutching his stomach.

"Speak for yourself." Mordin muttered, emerging from underneath the cheery tablecloth.

-

Tali switched shifts with Reegar, who was, whether he admitted it or not, a good pilot.

She stretched, her back sore from many hours in the pilot's seat, and went into the common area.

Kolyat was still there, sitting at the table, reading something on his omni-tool. She felt a twinge of guilt when she saw him.

"Hey." He said, looking up briefly. She found it difficult to read the Drell—something to do with the pigmentation of their eyes. She couldn't tell if he was still angry or not.

Sighing, she sat.

"I wanted to apologize about what I said earlier in the decon chamber. It was a poor joke. I know your father must be a painful subject."

He waved her off, the closed his omni-tool and sat back. "Don't be sorry. Honestly, I barely knew the guy. When we started to talk again he was, you know, already sick. And just when I felt like I was getting to know him, he died." Kolyat shrugged.

"He spoke of you often, from what Shepard said."

He drummed his fingers on the table, giving her an unconvincing smile and nodding, before looking away again.

After a beat of silence Tali stood.

"Get some sleep, Mr. Krios. We'll be landing in five hours, and Illium is a pretty exhausting place."

-

Reegar heard the _Neelena_ creak painfully as they docked, then she was abruptly silent as the boosters went out.

"Excellent." Tali said from over his shoulder. "I told you she'd hold together."

In the common area, Kolyat and Mordin were already milling around.

"Alright, boys." Tali said. "How does that expression go? Ah yes, let's 'see what we can see'."

Their party geared up and went to the airlock, waiting for the pressure to equalize. Finally the door popped open. The sounds of the city greeted them—the whirring of vehicles from overhead, people talking, laughing, arguing. Music and ads.

"I suggest our first objective involve food." Mordin said.

"I'll second that." Kolyat said. For some reason those two didn't find Quarian food overly appetizing.

It was dusk, and once they were out of the docks, he could finally catch a glimpse of the true scope of the city. It seemed to literally go on forever, all sharp spires and glittering lights. And the sunset was beautiful.

Tali had told him that they were docked in the same place as when she'd visited this world with Shepard. Indeed, she seemed to know her way around. They threaded their way through the financial district, past sales kiosks and Asari vendors. He made a mental note to come back here and look for weapons upgrades before they left.

Eventually, they approached a tiny storefront called, confusingly enough, "Fish-Dogs". Tali and he sat at a table by a balcony that overlooked the city while Mordin and Kolyat waited in line.

They were in the middle of a conversation when Tali trailed off, then said wonderingly, "Oh_, Keelah."_

Reegar was out of his chair and facing the perceived threat in an instant, his hand already on his assault rifle, but it was only an Asari approaching—youngish, slender. She smiled when she saw them.

"Sit down please." She said smoothly, the pleasant smile still plastered on her face. "You'll draw attention to us, and Illium has eyes everywhere."

She pulled up a chair, and Reegar sat back down stiffly.

"Liara!" Tali said. "How did you find us?"

The Asari settled into the chair, crossing her legs and rearranging her skirt.

"I still have quite a few contacts through the Shadow Broker."

Only Tali's touch on his arm kept him from drawing down on her.

"Relax, Kal'Reegar." The Asari said. He didn't bother to ask how she knew his name. "I want him as badly as you do. Maybe more."

"I'm not sure about that." Tali crossed her arms over her chest. "He's got Shepard. Or one of his contacts does."

Liara's face fell, her tough facade slipping for a moment. "I know. I want to help you get her back."

"What would help us is to find out what he wants. It has something to do with an assassin called Thane Krios."

"I know who you speak of. Where is he now?"

"He's dead. That's why we're puzzled."

"Hmm. Curious." She said, then looked around furtively and stood.

"I can't be seen with you for too long. But I'll do some digging and contact you later. Be careful, Tali. Getting involved with one of the Shadow Broker's enemies doesn't usually end well for someone."

"I'll keep it in mind." Tali said dryly.

Kolyat and Mordin reappeared, carrying trays of steaming food.

"Who was that?" Kolyat said, handing out napkins.

"I thought I knew, once." Tali said, drumming her fingers on the table. "Now, I'm not so sure."

* * *

_Sorry for the delay, everybody! I've been sloooowly plugging along on an original novel. Quote originally by John LeCarre. _


	8. The Messengers

_"The weapon of the advocate is the sword of the soldier, not the dagger of the assassin." -Stands Quiet in Victory, Treatise on War and Universal Rights, the Kahje Illuminated Primacy_

* * *

The evening had started out well enough.

At dusk they disembarked from the Shadow, moving ever further into the ruins of the city. Thane's perfect memory guided then down empty boulevards and through hulking ruins.

They were in a museum. In a different situation, Shepard could have examined these ruins for days. She caught glimpses of statues of Drell women in long, flowing garments, men in almost-togas, engaging in sport of some kind, hunting dog-like animals with thin blades. (She was surprised to note that the Drell apparently had no gender dimorphism--their men and women were more or less of the same stature, though the women were slender and small-breasted. She found herself feeling both short and buxom in comparison.)

The ninth disk was hidden in a half-collapsed hall full of religious artwork. Thane was hidden behind an enormous stone slab into which an image of Arashu In the Storm had been etched.

His voice had just echoed out from between it and the wall, saying that he'd found the disk, when the whole hall seemed to explode.

The one surviving window in the hall shattered violently, showering her in fragments of colored glass as she threw herself onto her belly. The floor actually seemed to ripple under her and for a millisecond she was back on the beaches of Elysium with an entire fleet of pirates shelling her.

Then the assassins appeared and she abruptly came back to the present.

Four of them, male, all Drell, in black fatigues and from the looks of it, heavily armed. Rounds from an assault rifle pinged off the ground next to her, but she couldn't hear them over the ringing in her ears. Her body rolled her out of the way while her mind reeled.

She scrambled into a run and dove behind a downed column just as another explosion rocked the already-crumbling edifice. Where they trying to bring this place down on all their heads?

She cast a glance behind her at the huge stone tablet of Arashu. It was still intact, but Thane was nowhere to be seen. Her chest constricted painfully. Christ, if he was caught behind that thing she'd literally never be able to move it.

Suddenly, the first assassin found her, putting an end to her thoughts. She dodged a very deft palm-strike and leapt over a pile of debris, putting distance between them. The Drell were incredibly strong in general, and this one seemed bigger and stronger than most. Her armor would save her from some gunfire but if he landed a blow on her it was all over.

Shepard got off a few rounds from her Carnifex but they all landed on his armor and it looked like he barely felt them. He saw him draw his left hand back seemingly in slow motion and dove away from the blue snarl of dark matter before it could land. What the hell was going on? Why didn't he just shoot at her?

Shepard landed hard on the ground and he dove for her, snarling. She understood abruptly. They wanted her alive. Of course. They wanted to know how much she knew.

He landed on her, his weight coming down hard on her ribs. She got a knee in between them and kicked him off, but not before he landed a jarring head-butt to the bridge of her nose. She felt it crunch distantly. He sailed off of her, a slightly confused look on his face, before she put three rounds into him in the places that weren't armored.

She was up and running. Where the hell was Thane? If he was using the radio she couldn't hear it. The first detonation may as well have gone off inside her skull for how well her ears were working now.

The air was so full of dust it was hard to tell what was even happening. Then she saw muzzle-flare from the dark hallway they'd come down. Shepard sprinted toward it.

She heard the second assassin moving behind her, and twisted out of the way as three rounds slammed into the wall behind her. She had just enough time to fire twice before he was right on top of her. Her rounds had landed but they didn't slow him down.

One huge fist slid past her in the dusty air, but Shepard was a Marine, and she had more years of Krav Maga training than she cared to remember. One of the major precepts of the discipline was using the superior strength of an opponent against them. That, and making joints bend the opposite way than they were supposed to.

She broke his elbow savagely. As he reeled away, the building shuddered sickeningly, metal support rods squealing under the strain. More dust fell, and she lost the assassin again. It didn't matter. She had to get Thane the hell out of here before the entire stone edifice came down on their heads.

She heard the distant pops of gunfire from ahead and saw hazy forms dancing briefly in the muzzle-flare. She took off towards them again, avoiding piles of rubble and falling stone.

Two rounds impacted forcefully over her right shoulderblade. Her reactive armor tensed around the blows but they still twisted her around and nearly knocked her off her feet. Now on the offensive, Shepard leapt toward the flashes from his weapon. She connected with him. It was like running into a brick wall with arms. She struck out with the butt of her assault rifle, and was rewarded with a solid crack as it found his temple. She felt the orbital bone give and he fell.

She kept moving, turning another corner in the labyrinthine hallways. Ahead, the air had cleared just enough for her to see Thane taking the assault rifle off of one of the assassins and driving it into the unfortunate man's throat. He wheeled around to see her as the walls started coming down around them. They ran.

Shepard could barely hear anything but she could definitely feel it. The ancient stones shuddered once, twice, dislodging dust and grit that filled the air in the hallway and her mouth when she inhaled.

Thane's hand clamped down on her elbow, pulling her around a corner. He could see parts of the light spectrum she never would, and it was a damn good thing. Her feet slid on sand and glass but his grip on her arm kept her from falling.

They burst through the enormous double-doors to the museum and kept going. There was a crash--metal screaming and glass breaking--and pieces of stone the size of her head flew past them. They flattened themselves behind a wall until the rumbling stopped and everything was deadly silent again.

Shepard doubled over, panting. It had all happened in the space of a two minutes, maybe three. Thane was covered in dust as well as a fine arterial spray, leading her to believe that he took out both of the two remaining assassins. Otherwise, he looked fine. The huge stone slab must have shielded him from the initial blast. He peeked out around the corner.

Then he turned back to her, and his eyes went wide.

"_Siha_!" He exclaimed. He put his hand to her face, and when he brought it back, it was bloody.

-

Less than an hour later, they were back in space.

"But what about the last three disks?" Shepard said, flinching slightly as he applied the sticky, acrid medi-gel to the last cut on her face. He actually felt her skin crawling shut under his fingers. The broken crest of her nose was more difficult. It would be a few hours. Hopefully the bone-knitters and gel would at least halt the progress of two black eyes that were threatening to bloom out from the break.

"They're buried under two stories of rubble. I don't see anyone locating anytime them in the near future, including us. Now let me look at your back." He said firmly.

Shepard absolutely despised being fussed over, and would go to any length to avoid it. But the first charge had gone off practically right on top of her and she'd been shot twice, and he wasn't letting her get away without an exam for other, less obvious, damage.

Shepard arched an eyebrow at him.

"Alright, but only because I love taking my clothes off for you." She said.

Thane snorted.

He helped her carefully strip off her jacket, then her shirt, her movements stiff. She had two impressive, fist-sized bruises starting on her back where the assassin's two rounds had connected. As well he knew, that was the trade-off for lighter armor. More mobility, but also more bruises.

His hands trailed down her ribcage, applying pressure, feeling for fractures. She hissed, tensing as he found a sore spot--not broken, not fractured, only bruised. He assuaged his own feelings mentally as he muttered his apologies in her ear. Shepard could not be broken by such things, he told himself.

But guilt assaulted him from all angles. She may have been the indestructible Commander Shepard to the rest of the universe, but to him she was _Siha_, and the idea that she should be wounded on his behalf made real anger blossom in the pit of his stomach. He'd managed to keep his protective instincts for the most part in check when she was his commander, but now he was under no such obligation.

_(On the Normandy's shuttlecraft, air smelling of coppery Human blood in the tiny space. He puts pressure on her wound with the flat of his palm, muttering comforts. _Siha_ is barely conscious, leaning into him, her breathing ragged against his neck. Miranda's eyes move over them, and she knows. He can tell from the set of her jaw and the narrowing of her eyes that she knows_ _everything.)_

"There was something very familiar about the assassins on Rakhana..." She said, breaking him out of solipsism.

"...The way they fought reminded me of...well, you." She finished, unsure.

"Yes. It would seem that the Shadow Broker has hired some old associates of mine."

She turned, her eyes wide.

"You knew them?"

"No, not personally. But I recognize the Kahje Assassin Guild's handiwork. They assume that because we learned from the same masters that they will have more success tracking and assassinating me."

Shepard actually laughed. "Ah, little do they know how devious you really are." She said.

He smirked. "And what a fearsome woman I have to protect me." He responded.

He sat beside her, carefully drawing her close to him, but the smirk melted off his face as she leaned into his shoulder. His mind went to the only other person in the galaxy he truly worried about.

"You're thinking about Kolyat." She said after a moment of silence. A statement, not a question. Shepard was very perceptive.

"Of course. I am hoping that he's better at being undercover than I was when I was his age." He said bitterly, looking down at the ground.

"I prayed every day that his life would not be like this. Like mine. Undercover in merc camps and slums and workhouses, hiding in ventilation ducts. Dreaming about minute-of-angle calculations and looking down the scope."

He stood, unable to bear the comfort of her touch when he'd been such an utter failure in such a vital area of life.

"Kolyat always wanted to be a sculptor when he was a boy. His mother was an artist. I was so happy when it appeared that he would follow in her footsteps. I didn't teach him how to break a man's neck with a touch or to sever the brain-stem with a single round at 100 yards because I didn't want that for him. Now he's in hiding, and I have taught him nothing that would protect him. I was a fool to think I could shield him from this."

Shepard only sat quietly for a moment, her hands in her lap. She was not a woman of platitudes, or unrealistically optimistic assessments.

"Kolyat is a smart kid, and he's scrappy as hell." She said finally. "Right before I sent him to Omega, he killed three hit-men with nothing but his C-Sec sidearm and Bailey's mediocre Judo class."

He couldn't help but smile. "Is that so?" He sat down again.

She bumped him with her shoulder in what he had come to understand was a teasing gesture.

"Yeah, it seems that you and Irikah managed to create the perfect person: A killing machine who can sculpt." She said, smirking.

"_Siha_, I...Thank you. I know you've been watching over him, and I appreciate it more than you know."

Shepard had just opened her mouth to respond when EDI interrupted.

"I have finished compiling the data you requested, Mr. Krios." She said.

Shepard quirked an eyebrow, leapt off the bed, and darted out of the room before he could catch her.

"Bring it up on the main console, please, EDI." He said, shaking his head and taking a more sedate walk to the cockpit.

"As you wish, Mr. Krios."

When he got there Shepard was already in the pilot's seat, peering into the screen in nothing but a pair of reactive armor pants and a bra.

"What are you saying, EDI? You predicted where she's going to be?"

Thane answered for her, leaning over to look at the information.

"That's what I compiled this data for: it's an algorithm. The Shadow Broker moves every six months, almost always somewhere new. But there is a pattern--I learned while hunting men that there always is. She's following resources, leads, people. By tracking the movements of her network we can find her."

"But we only have nine out of twelve disks."

"That is why I was only able to narrow the search down to three worlds, Shepard." EDI said.

"That's still pretty damned good, EDI." Shepard said, shaking her head, grinning.

EDI was quiet for moment. "Thank you, Shepard." She said at last, and Thane thought he could hear pride in her voice.

Shepard brought her hands together. "Where to first, Mr. Krios?"

EDI interrupted again.

"Shepard. I'm getting a transmission from the Illusive Man. Should I bring it up on your personal computer?"

Shepard seemed to deflate.

"Yes. I'll be right there." She said morosely.

She stood, sliding past him.

"Goddamnit." She said under her breath, her boots uncharacteristically loud on the deck-plating. "You're with me, Thane." She called out.

He walked back down the hall and looked around the door-frame. She was pulling her shirt back on.

"The Illusive Man clearly does not want to speak to me." He said flatly.

"This is your op. I'm under no obligation to work around his prejudices. And he owes you a favor." She opened her laptop and sat. He moved to stand behind her.

The screen flickered, then the Illusive Man appeared. Middle-aged and grey-haired, he sat, smirking, a cigarette dangling from his fingers. Overall, his appearance was a remarkably subtle for a man whose office overlooked a roiling, newborn star.

His strange, illuminated eyes flickered over them.

"I didn't ask you to bring your special friend to this debriefing, Shepard." He said, just a hint of derision edging into his voice.

"Go fuck yourself." Shepard said flatly, crossing her legs and smoothing out her shirt. She really had a way with words sometimes.

The Illusive Man rolled his eyes, taking a long drag from his cigarette and releasing it. He pursed his lips.

"I can tell you're in a mood. Give me a progress report, and I'll leave you...two in peace."

"We've made a great breakthrough, but there is one problem."

"Yes?"

"I need some information, and you're the only one in a position to give it to me without tipping the Shadow Broker off."

"Oh?"

"I need to know that Kolyat Krios is safe. I want you to keep tabs on him. He's caught up in this bullshit, too."

"None of my responsibilities involve babysitting, Shepard." He said, his eyes narrowing almost imperceptibly.

"He's Thane's son, and since you got Thane into this in the first place, I'd say you are completely responsible. And since _I'm_ out here getting myself blown up doing you favors--again--I'd say it's fair that you make sure my stepson doesn't get killed for my trouble."

The Illusive Man's face didn't change, but he flicked his cigarette away, right onto his clean, black marble floor.

"Fine. I'll make sure he's alright. Now tell me what you know."

"We've narrowed her possible location down to three worlds: Elysium, Kahje, and...Earth."

If the Illusive Man was surprised, he didn't show it.

"Good. Make it happen, Shepard."

She leaned back casually in her chair.

"Are you ever going to tell me why it is that you want her dead so badly?" She said.

The Illusive Man steepled his fingers under his chin.

"Why do I want anything, Shepard? Because it's in humanity's best interests. The Shadow Broker is willing to betray her own race for power and influence, and that is something that I cannot stomach."

Shepard didn't try to hide her shock. He ignored it.

"Just find her, Shepard. Leave the politics to me." He said, reaching forward for his keyboard. The transmission went to static.

Shepard shut her laptop with a click.

"So the Shadow Broker is...human. I certainly didn't see that coming." She said thoughtfully.

Thane's mind was not on the mission.

"You...consider Kolyat to be your stepson?" He said wonderingly, warmth spreading out from his chest all the way into his fingertips.

Shepard's eyes widened for a moment, and to his surprise, a blush came to her face.

"I, ah. Well. I'm sorry. I know that I'm only..." She stood stiffly, turning to walk away. His touch on her arm stopped her.

"_Siha_. Don't apologize. This is more than I'd hoped for. You are...so much more than I've allowed myself to hope for."

He stepped towards her, his arms going around her. Her face was burning hot against his cheek.

"Well, I don't think I could pass him off as my _biological_ son." She said, covering her nerves with humor, as she always did. Did she truly think that it was possible for her to overstate her importance to him?

He caught her mouth with his. The Illusive Man and his "politics" could wait.

* * *

_Opening quote stolen from Alexander Cockburn_. _Thank you as ever for reading, and especially for reviewing. _


	9. The Agent

_"Suprises are foolish things. The pleasure is not enhanced, and the inconvenience is often considerable." -Kirinj Thanatos, Drell consort of Matriarch Dilinaga_

* * *

Kolyat had come across a few intelligence operatives in his travels, current and retired, and they all had some similarities that seemed to cross the species barrier. They all moved in a similar way (a smooth gait with the habit of leading with the head instead of the body like some predatory animals), and they all had that unmistakable thousand-yard stare. Mordin also had a rather annoying _military_ habit of repeating instructions at least four times. He was an STG man to the bone, Kolyat was realizing.

"...Down into the district, around the clubs. Casual. No more than twice around. Take no action if suspicious..." He said for the fourth time.

"Yes, Mordin, yes!" Kolyat said, slamming a heat-sink into his Carnifex I-90 and looking over the new Sabot jacketing upgrade again.

Mordin had insisted for some reason that they book themselves into a hotel instead of staying aboard the _Neelena_. Kolyat wasn't sure if he had some tactical reason or if he just hated the ship.

"If there are agents down there, I will pull them away from the entertainment district and toward you. I'm not going to cause a firefight in a nightclub. Did Tali and Reegar see anything?" He said, tucking the weapon into the shoulder-holster under his jacket.

The Quarians had been staking out the district in ever-widening concentric circles for the last two hours with no luck—no suspicious people, no relevant radio chatter.

"Not yet. But the Shadow Broker doesn't want _them_ dead." Mordin said, smirking his horrible smirk.

That was another thing intel-types all seemed to have in common: that black sense of humor.

"Lucky them." Kolyat said, smoothing out his jacket and checking to make sure his weapon was well-concealed.

Satisfied, he stalked to the door.

"Be careful, Mr. Krios. I would hate for you to get killed so early in your career." Mordin said.

Kolyat waited awhile for the snarky follow-up remark, but it didn't come. Mordin wasn't even smirking.

"Thanks, Mordin. I'll do what I can." Kolyat said, and went out into the hall.

-

This sector of the port didn't really seem to "come alive" until night fell, but when it did it was pretty spectacular.

Illium's club scene had none of the seediness of Omega's, but also didn't pander to the tourists the way bars and venues in the Wards did. They all had brightly-lit signs, marquees listing off drink specials and entertainment news. Bass beats from different clubs conflicted in the street, and the night air smelled like spilled drinks and perfume. He'd never really paid much attention to the nightlife before, but if he _was _going to pay attention, he would want to do it on Illium.

Kolyat's long stride carried him around the district once, his hands behind his back, trying not to look too interested. Or too casual.

No one was following him—at least not that he could see. The only people on the street were groups of giggling Asari maidens, leaving and entering clubs. A few of them gave him appraising glances, but the interest seemed perfunctory, and he didn't see anyone more than once.

Back where he began, Kolyat contemplated going back up to the hotel room, then decided against it. If they wanted to get somewhere in this investigation he had to be _seen, _dammit.

He took the steps up to Eternity two at a time, adjusting the collar of his jacket nervously.

The door slid open and a wave of noise greeted him. To his surprise, this club seemed to mostly be patronized by Humans. A few of them looked up as he entered, and gave him the same puzzled look they always did. Most Humans had never seen a Drell before. Good. He was even more visible than he'd figured upon.

Kolyat slid into a booth by the dance-floor, uncertain what one was expected to do at clubs like this. He scanned the room. The bulk of the crowd was on the dance floor, moving together to the music in a way that reminded him of the religious rites his mother once took him to.

Movement on his left snapped him out of his thoughts. A Human woman was sidling up to him, a drink in one hand, enraptured by the dancers—so much so that she didn't really seem to be paying attention to where she was going. Swaying slightly, she was moving increasingly closer to him, until she was actually leaning against his shoulder.

She was youngish, pale, with a slick violet dress, a leather jacket, black hair cut sharply at her jaw, and breasts that were..._right_ in his face.

"Ah, excuse...ma'am..." He said, trying to evade them. He was quite tall, and when sitting, he seemed to be at the perfect eye-level for this. Eventually, he leaned away from her, and she almost fell.

"Oh!" She said, throwing out her hands to steady herself, spilling her drink all over him in the process.

"Ohmygod!" She slurred, apparently noticing him for the first time. "I am so sorry!"

"It's fine. Really. Don't..." Kolyat said, flustered, as she found some napkins on a table and started mopping off his lap with them.

"Gah! I'll do it! Stop!" He cried, wondering if all Humans had this little regard for the personal space of others. He took the napkins out of her hands and started trying to clean some fruity beverage off of his pants.

The girl was increasingly distressed.

"You must think I'm the biggest idiot!" She continued. Kolyat didn't dispute her claim.

"It's alright. Really. I was just leaving." He sighed, sliding out of the booth and putting as much distance between himself and this strange woman as possible.

He left Eternity, frustrated, and no closer to finding Tazzk or Shepard. His father had been so effective at this sort of thing, why wasn't he? (Then Kolyat answered his own question: because he hadn't been sharpened into a weapon since he was a small child. Because he grew up sculpting and sitting on beaches with gentle Irikah instead of taking down targets and planting C-4 for the Illuminated Primacy.)

The night was cooler now, and the later the night became the louder the music was that pumped out of the clubs and onto the street. There were more people out, too—Asari, a few Turians, a Human or two...

Kolyat turned off the main drag, heading back to the hotel, his heart-rate spiking. He looked over his shoulder again as casually as possible, just to be sure.

The girl from Eternity was following him, and he didn't seem to be drunk anymore. As he left the entertainment district, it was becoming more and more difficult for her to obscure herself. The streets were empty now—she couldn't just duck into a group of Asari club-goers or Human tourists.

Kolyat considered Mordin's words. It was good advice, but drawing her into a trap hardly seemed necessary. For one thing, she was half his size.

He took off running, hurtling around a corner. Behind him, he heard the Human's footsteps quicken on the pavement, but his stride was longer and he put distance between them quickly.

Kolyat turned another corner, then stopped, listening. He flattened himself against the wall.

A moment later the girl appeared from around the corner, moving fast. He pulled out his Carnifex and drew down on her. She slid to a stop, realizing too late what had happened. She put her hands on her head slowly.

"Turn around." Kolyat said.

As she turned, he saw that it was indeed the same Human woman, and yet she seemed totally different. She wasn't stumbling drunk, for one thing, and the vacant expression had been replaced with one of anger.

"I don't want to hurt you..." She said. Her voice was even different, harder somehow. "...But you need to take your gun out of my face. Now."

Kolyat ignored her. "Tell me where Tazzik is." He said, taking a step toward her. Her eyes narrowed.

"I don't know who you're talking about."

"Don't play stupid. I know you're one of the Shadow Broker's agents. You failed at taking me, so just tell me where your boss is, and maybe I'll even let you go."

She laughed, short and harsh.

"I'm not from the Shadow Broker, you big idiot."

"I don't believe you." He said flatly.

She let out a long sigh, rolling her eyes.

"I'm Operative Oriana Lawson. I was sent to find you by Cerberus."

"How do you know who I am?" Kolyat said suspiciously.

"I scanned your omni-tool."

Omni-tools were equipped with passive RFID only. They were impossible to scan without a direct link-up...which would, of course, explain why she'd spilled her drink all over him then been so insistent upon cleaning it up. She'd run her hands all over him and the only thought he'd had was that Humans were unpleasant when inebriated.

"Smooth. But why not just bio-scan me?"

"Cerberus doesn't have your biological profile on file; no one does. Thane Krios systematically wiped all the existing records of your genetic make-up after your mother was killed. It would be an impossible task for an average person, but as we both know your father was far from average."

Kolyat was dumbstruck. He'd always assumed that after his father left Kahje following his mother's return to the Sea he'd washed his hands of him. Deleting every existing record galaxy-wide of someone's bio-profile would take literally years—and he'd done it to protect him. So that no one could track him down the way they'd tracked his mother.

Kolyat lowered his gun.

"Fine. You found me. Now what does Cerberus want?"

Oriana sighed, dropping her hands back to her sides.

"I'm not privy to that kind of information. I was only ordered to find you and report your condition back to my handlers."

"I'm fine. Now--" Kolyat was interrupted by several things happening at once.

Oriana's eyes darted from his face to the space over his left shoulder, then widened in surprise. They dove for cover simultaneously as at least thirty armed men flooded the alleyway. Oriana pulled something from her jacket. He had just enough time to register that it was a fragmentation grenade before she pulled the pin with her teeth and threw it over the partition.

"Goddess!" He said, but it was drowned out by the explosion.

Before the air cleared, Kolyat ducked out from behind cover, putting careful rounds into the moving forms of the Shadow Broker's agents.

Oriana was on the other side of the crate, leaning out periodically to fire what looked like a smaller Predator handgun.

"These are your friends, I presume?" She said over her shoulder, just as four of them fell on him at once.

Luckily for him, all of the attackers were Human. In Bailey's Judo classes back at C-Sec academy, he'd learned how very fragile Humans were in comparison to other races. Their muscle and bone density was only about half of what healthy Drell had, and only a quarter that of a Turian.

One of the new Turian recruits snapped an instructor's arm the first day. He didn't hold a grudge, thankfully, but for the rest of the semester, the Turians and Kolyat had their very own class, and that Turian recruit was afraid to so much as shake hands with Humans.

Kolyat snapped himself out of the memory as the first man lay a hand on him. He whipped around with Carnifex, catching the agent across the jaw as his three friends struggled to restrain him. Kolyat brought a foot down hard on one man's instep, then as he bent forward at the waist instinctively, Kolyat head-butted him with such force that he knocked the wind out of himself in the process.

Kolyat pivoted at the waist, throwing off the man who held his right arm and driving the heel of his hand hard into the other's nose. The other man came back around and caught him around the waist, bowling him over, and they fell together into the gunfight between Oriana and the agents.

Rounds pinged off the floor centimeters from his head. The man on top of him managed to land a blow, and Kolyat discovered that he'd unfortunately prepared for this confrontation by wearing SAP gloves. Light exploded behind his eyes as the agent's lead-lined knuckles impacted with his temple. Disoriented, he brought a knee up and into what was a vulnerable spot on males of almost any species, using the momentum of the blow to roll the man off of him. A few rounds came from the direction of Oriana's crate, landing center-mass and toppling the agent.

"Get the hell back here!" She yelled.

Kolyat belly-crawled back to cover, his vision still wavering slightly. To his surprise, Oriana was not alone. Tali and Reegar were crouched beside her, shoulder to shoulder, each with an assault rifle.

"They're flanking us!" Reegar bellowed, and suddenly the whole alley was flooded with black-clad agents.

Kolyat was on his feet, slamming in another heat-sink and firing down the alley. Oriana followed him, Tali and Reegar hugged the opposite wall.

"Get behind me!" He shouted at Oriana as he was swarmed by agents. He shot two before they brought him down, someone driving a knee into his stomach. Rounds impacted hard with his armor. Kolyat rallied his strength, throwing two of them off and firing again. Behind him, Oriana was holding off yet more people with her Predator, snarling.

Then something unexpected happened: she drew back her off-hand and a ball of dark energy settled down into it. Then she threw her hand out, the ball of energy changing and growing as it moved, and suddenly there was a terrific crash and all the men in front of them were not there anymore.

Kolyat grabbed her elbow and they ran, sliding around a corner as rounds reigned down upon them. They turned again, and Tali and Reegar re-appeared.

"Get to the ship!" Tali cried.

Together they hurtled through the night, around the abandoned financial district and to the docks. The _Neelena_'s airlock popped open as they approached: she was already fired up and ready to depart.

They threw themselves into the airlock, and Reegar slammed it shut. He hit the intercom with a fist.

"Go, Mordin!" He said, and the _Neelena_ shuddered and lifted off.

Panting, Kolyat picked himself up off the ground as the decon sequence started.

"Don't tell me that was blind luck—you're in the same district as me when the shooting starts..." he said at Reegar and Tali, still prone on the floor of the airlock.

Reegar shrugged. "I figured tailing you would be more productive than just...wandering around."

"This is a touching reunion, but...who they hell are you, and where the hell are we going?" Oriana spoke up, shielding her eyes from the fine anti-microbial mist.

"Better ask Mordin." Kolyat said as the decon cycled ended.

The door popped open.

"Take over piloting, Tali. Autopilot on ship of this age unreliable at best." Mordin said. He was in the center of the common area, standing over a bound Salarian, a gun to the back of his head.

Wordlessly, Tali slid past them and into the cockpit, apparently unphased by what she saw.

"Who is this, Mordin? What are you doing?" Kolyat said.

Mordin snorted.

"While you were clubbing, doing real work. Meet Tazzik." He said, nodding at his captive.

* * *

_Sorry about the delay, all. Family problems! Hopefully things will be better now. As ever, thanks so much for your encouragement and kind words. Opening quote by Jane Austin._


	10. The Blitz

_"Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars." -Khalil Gibran, Human philosopher and poet_

* * *

It was still dark when Shepard woke, in a cold sweat, the sheets tangled around her legs, her mouth dry.

The terrible desperation of knowing that someone would die and she couldn't stop it from happening was the thing that haunted her dreams the most. It was the Blitz, Ashley, and lastly, Thane. Brown-eyed Nicky with the southern drawl and the secret against-the-regs pink toenail polish, seeing the anti-aircraft round a second before it took her head off. Jordan, who sketched on any available surface and whistled constantly, screaming before flaming debris from the battle overhead crushed him.

Ashley, who loved Tennyson and Jameson in equal measure, her voice terse but resolute over the radio, telling her that she would never leave Virmire--would never live to see her little sister graduate high school.

Thane—warrior, repentant sinner, father, who she'd needed eternity with but had gotten only thirteen months, going cold and stiff in her arms before the nurses could pull her away from his body.

Thane came in from the balcony, his bare feet silent on the stone floor, the glass door clicking behind him and cutting off the flow of cold night air.

_"Siha..."_ He breathed, sliding into bed beside her, drawing the bedclothes around them against the chill air. He didn't ask. He never did. A career like Shepard's didn't come without nightmares, and not every nightmare could be eased by speaking of it.

He was shirtless, and his skin was freezing cold from the night air. It pulled her back into the dream and the past for an instant, and she shivered involuntarily, her breath catching. Thane pulled her closer, one hand combing through her hair, the other kneading at the small of her back.

"Why aren't you sleeping?" She whispered.

"I was praying." He said. She nodded, and they lay in silence for a moment before he spoke again, hesitantly.

"...If I may ask, _Siha_, what did you dream about?"

Shepard took a deep breath.

"A few things. I never told you what happened here, did I?" She said. Thane shook his head solemnly. Another gesture he'd picked up from the Humans aboard the Normandy. She smiled briefly before memories crushed it.

"It was my birthday. Twenty-one. It's sort of a milestone for my people—the passage to adulthood.

Anyway, we were on leave here, on the beach. Some of my friends dragged me out for a party. We rented a pavilion, they bought imported pineapples and booze and somebody found a blender. Manish Singh was playing "American Pie" on his acoustic guitar and Jaqui Iverson was just handing me a pina colada the size of my head when the shelling started."

Shepard sat up, unable to stand even Thane's touch right now. She smoothed her hands over her hair and took a deep breath.

"I was a Lance Corporal at the time, and therefore the highest man in the chain of command in our group." She laughed bitterly. "One lousy pay-grade bump is what got me a leadership role in the damned Skyllian Blitz.

Anyway. None of us had even our side-arms with us. Elysium was different then. It was where everyone went on...vacation. There was no security. There was nothing here anyone wanted! Just beaches and forests and spring-break."

She knew she was rambling, but Thane didn't interrupt. He'd sat up beside her, arms around his knees, hands linked. He watched her thoughtfully.

"We caught up with another group of Marines just as the pirates started landing. We lost half our people in the first half-hour. Finally, I kicked the shit out of a Human merc and stole his weapons—from then on it was easier to get more."

She brought shaking hands up, gesturing. She hadn't talked about the Blitz since her debriefing on the topic eleven years ago.

"The city is walled off from the beaches to keep the wildlife out, with gates every few blocks--" She said. Thane nodded.

"We had them bottlenecked at one gate. We couldn't let them get to the civilians—one Human settlement gets successfully hit by slavers, and it emboldens them. We held them off for hours, only twenty or so of us. Until finally the battle overhead ended and Alliance ships could land. After that they flooded the beach with Marines—ones who were a lot less green than we were—and it was over after that pretty quickly.

I got the Star of Terra for that. That! For not getting killed. They said I was a 'natural leader'." Shepard snorted. "A natural leader would not have let half of the people she went through boot with get killed."

"But that wasn't all." Thane said. Not a question.

"No." Shepard said. "I dreamed about Ashley, who we left behind on Virmire, practically sitting on a 4-kiloton nuke.

Then I dreamed about you. Listening to your lungs fail. The moment I realized that your heart wasn't beating anymore."

"Have you ever dreamed of your own death?" He said quietly. It wasn't the response she'd been expecting.

"...No. Actually, I haven't."

"Neither have I. It's unfortunate. We've both been to the afterlife and remember nothing."

She'd wondered about this. If Thane's faith had been shaken by the experience of dying and coming back none-the-wiser. Shepard had never been a religious woman and she'd still been upset by the idea. He apparently knew what she was thinking.

"I still pray as I always have." Thane smiled. "I don't need to see Kalihira on her black throne to know that the gods are real."

She breathed a sigh of relief. It was reassuring that someone could be capable of faith in the midst of all of this. Thane had never commented on her own lack of spirituality, but she got the feeling sometimes that he pitied her for it.

Shepard slumped over to lie in his lap. He stroked her hair.

"You shouldn't feel upset, _Siha._ All of those people had good deaths. Myself included. When my soul left my body I had your name on my lips. Dying in your arms was a wonderful end..."

He looked down at her in the dark, a smile threatening to emerge.

"...Though admittedly, it's not an experience I would like to repeat for another fifty years at least." Thane finished dryly.

Shepard laughed, though tears were threatening to fall again.

"I agree. No more dying. Not for a very long time." She said, letting out a shaky sigh. She looked at her omni-tool.

Eleven years ago, she'd arrived here on an Alliance transport, packed into a compartment with fourteen other Marines like sardines in a can. When the airlock opened, the first rays of sun were just rising over the ocean. The fifteen formerly-rowdy young men and women stumbled out into the early morning, the air so different from recycled atmosphere, silent, reverent almost, moving instinctively toward the ocean and the sunrise. They all dropped their bags on the tarmac and stared, open-mouthed, at the alien beauty of this world—so like Earth and yet so foreign. For some of them, Elysium would be the end of the journey, for others, only the beginning.

Almost in a trance, Shepard threw on a shirt and pants, motioning for Thane to follow. Wordlessly, he slid out of bed and fell into step behind her. She practically ran down the stairs of the hotel to ground level, bursting out the door.

The air tasted like salt from the sea, and mist from the waves was cold on her exposed arms. The concrete barrier between the beach and their hotel was only a few hundred feet away. Shepard hadn't bothered with shoes, but she covered the distance quickly, Thane still silent behind her. She looked again at her omni-tool.

They went through the break in the wall, the concrete under her feet turning to sand. The sea was black and silent, though the sky was now turning deepest purple at the horizon. She knew that Thane had a particular passion for the sunrise, and Elysium's was truly spectacular. She never thought she'd see it again.

So much had changed in eleven years, and yet, she was still here. The beach was silent, empty, no flaming debris or pirates or the bodies of friends. No spectacular aerial dogfights screamed overhead.

The first ray of sunshine broke the horizon, sending reflections of its light across the dark sea. Thane gasped.

Shepard sank to her knees in the cold sand, her face to the ocean. In a way, Elysium had always been with her since that day. It was a relief to return—like in seeing it again, she could finally let it go.

Thane sat beside her, his hand seeking hers instinctively. They sat together for a long time, while Shepard thought of the past, and finally, at last, the future.

"Will you put in a good word for me to the gods?" Shepard asked in total seriousness.

Thane just smiled. "I always do, _Siha._"

-

New Nassau was the port they'd arrived at—the same port Shepard and the other Alliance Marines had come to mere days before the Skyllian Blitz had begun.

Thane wasn't entirely sure at the time why Shepard had chosen this location, but sitting on the beach, staring at the sun, he thought he knew. Her soul had been suffering for a long time because of what had happened here—the event that had first catapulted her out of the rank-and-file.

Shepard carried a lot of pain, and she did it with the practiced stoicism of a soldier. But Thane could see it sometimes in her gaze, in her walk, and sometimes when she was very tired and they were alone she would tell him about this pain.

At about 8 AM local time they went back to their room at the hotel. He thought she would need sleep but she practically pounced on him. Just as he had seen her struggle under so much pain, he could now feel that she'd thrown some of it off, and her soul seemed to breath again. They made love for hours then slept until the sun was high in the sky.

New Nassau was full of the Shadow Broker's information brokers, as was every other Human colony. They wound through streets crowded with primarily Human and Asari tourists, soaking up the last rays of the sun. Shepard questioned each broker, pushing as hard as she could, but the trail was cold, and she was growing frustrated again.

As the first stars were coming out, EDI radioed them. The Illusive Man was calling. They went back to the hotel.

They stood before the Illusive Man's image together.

"Shepard. Mr. Krios. I have the news I promised concerning Kolyat Krios."

Thane stiffened slightly, but Shepard's voice was carefully measured.

"Good. How is he?"

The Illusive Man took his time answering, fishing a cigarette from a pack, flicking his lighter once, twice, then inhaling deeply.

"He led one of my operatives on quite a chase. She searched for him on Omega, only to discover that he'd encountered an old friend of yours and left the station."

"What friend?" Shepard said, leaning forward, eyes narrowed. This had never been the plan.

"Dr. Mordin Solus."

"Mordin?" This time it was Thane that spoke. "Why? And where are they now?"

"Be calm, Mr. Krios, I'm getting there."

"Mr. Krios the younger and Mordin Solus eventually ended up on Illium, along with—and you'll like this, Shepard—Tali'Zorah Vas Neema and her Marine, Kal'Reegar Vas Auriga."

Shepard sat back heavily in her chair, and Thane steadied himself by putting a hand on her shoulder.

"But what are they_ doing_? Tell me they're not after the Shadow Broker!"

"Actually, Shepard..." he said, flicking ash off his cigarette and settling into a different position in his chair, "...It seems they're after _you_."

Then, as he said the word "_you_", the window blew out.

Thane was in motion in a fraction of a second, diving across Shepard, pushing her off her chair and covering her body with his own. The glass fell and smoke billowed past him. He was on his feet again, his head low, but the smoke was so thick he saw nothing.

The first blow took him off guard and almost took him off his feet. From the strength behind the fist he knew that their attackers were definitely not Human. As he reeled, at least four sets of hands clamped down on him, and he felt the unmistakable pinch of a hypodermic needle under his jaw.

Training and instinct brought his hand out and into a soft throat, even as the warmth of the sedative spread through his body.

He heard the hyoid bone snap under his hand, but the other three attackers were already moving to the other side of the room, to Shepard.

"Shepard!" A deep voice bellowed. A combination of sedation and the strength of the associated emotions pulled him into solipsism for the barest second.

_("On your knees, please, Shepard." Balak says calmly, and Shepards eyes flicker over the ruins, searching for him. He is doing minute-of-angle calculations in his head so that his mind won't catch on the fear in her eyes. Shepard goes down on one knee in front of Balak's lieutenant, hands on her head, and he takes the shot.) _

It was Balak. The air had cleared enough so that he could see the enormous Batarian that had stalked them since the end of the Collector campaign.

Darkness flickered before Thane's eyes. His limbs felt like they were weighted, the air around him seemed to turn to water. Sounds seemed to be coming to him from far away. He gritted his teeth, turning over onto his hands and knees with a colossal effort. Unconsciousness clawed at him, every breath was an effort, but he could not leave Shepard to face the agents of the Shadow Broker alone.

Shots rang out behind him, and her voice exploded from somewhere.

"I'll kill you for this, Balak!" Shepard screamed, her Carnifex going off over and over, punching holes in the walls of the room.

One of Balak's men was foolish enough to back up until he was within his reach. Thane pulled a slim blade from his sleeve and drove it into his thigh. He bent at the waist involuntarily and when he did, Thane pulled him over, cutting his carotid artery with very little finesse. Fear quickened his breath and crawled up his spine, but couldn't drive the darkness from before his eyes. With effort, he pulled his gaze from the dead merc.

He looked up just in time to see Balak hurtling past him, stumbling backwards toward the open window. Shepard put one round into his chest before the heat-sink blew.

Time slowed. Balak's arms wind-milled as he teetered on the precipice of the broken window. Shepard snarled, advancing on him, but she wasn't quick enough. Balak's hand closed on her forearm, pulling her into him, and they fell out the window together.

_"Siha!"_ He exclaimed, or maybe just thought. His heart seemed to stop. They were only on the second floor, but he knew well how delicate Human bones were. For a moment there was only silence.

Balak's lieutenants were all dead. Thane pulled himself into a kneeling position, then onto shaking legs. He almost passed out again when he stood.

_Arashu, help us. Give me strength, _he thought.

He looked down into the street, but there was nothing below but a smear of Batarian blood on the pavement. Taking a deep breath, he leapt.

The ground came up hard to meet him. He fell forward, but stayed on his feet, moving toward the wall, all the muscles in his legs quivering, narcotics flooding his system.

Pavement turned to sand under his boots. He crossed the retaining wall, his eyes searching the water...

At first he saw nothing, but when the surf receded, their forms burst from the water. Shepard drew a fist back and slammed it into Balak's exposed throat. He tried to grasp her wrist as it went past but she was too quick for him. He fell backwards, Shepard straddling his chest. The sun was setting behind them, and Thane sank into the sand only meters away, beginning to lose his battle for consciousness.

_ (The army of Siha cleansed the desert of bandits and murderers and evildoers, sweeping down from mountains with their shining spears. They cut a bloody swath through the searing day until Siha found their leader, the god Nirihen, The Devourer, and they battled until the sun fell. They fought onward through the long Rakhanan night until the sun rose upon Siha standing over the corpse of her foe.)_

The water swept up the beach again, obscuring them, then back out, and Shepard was hitting the much larger Balak again and again. Her Carnifex was empty, her assault rifle lost somewhere in the sea. She was going to end Balak, who had stalked her for eleven years, with her bare hands.

"Tell me where she is!" Shepard screamed.

_(Then as Siha stood over the body of Nirihen, Arashu descended from the heavens on the north wind, her armor resplendent in the new sun, her green eyes flashing. She took Siha with her into the sky and made her the queen of her warrior angels, and forever she led the armies of Arashu against those who would do evil.)_

The sea swept up again, and when it receded, it carried the body of Balak with it. Shepard was alone--covered in blood and soaked to the skin, on her knees in the foam, her chest heaving.

_"Siha." _He breathed once, falling onto his side, the sand cool against his face. She scrambled to her feet, clutching her left arm against herself, blood running from a cut over her eye.

"Oh god, Thane!" She sobbed, cradling his head. He could only look up at her, the brilliant sunset filtering through her hair, setting off her strange skin.

"I love you, _Siha," _he thought, or maybe said. When she smiled down at him he knew he had spoken aloud. She pulled his head into her chest and he breathed the extrinsic smell of her, the rose-scented soap she favored and the faint sweet tang of pheromones.

"...will be alright, Thane...it's over...back to the _Shadow _and everything will be..."

I know, _Siha_, he thought. The sunset was brilliant—the horizon exploding into shades of scarlet and orange where it met the sea. Above, the stars were just emerging. The night was abruptly quiet again, no more gunshots or screams or artillery. In his mind, he could imagine Shepard's friends—barely adults, already so eager to defend their colony and it's people—resting quietly in eternity.

The Skyllian Blitz was finally over.


	11. The Neelena

_"Love is but the discovery of ourselves in others, and the delight in the recognition." -Hitomi Sato, Human performer and playwright_

* * *

Tali slid past the horrible scene unfolding in the common area of the _Neelena_, and sat in the pilot's chair, closing the door behind her.

In the cockpit, things made sense. Machines did not bleed, and you didn't have to torture confessions out of computers. She found Mordin's proclivity for physical coercion distasteful, but didn't really have any better ideas for getting information out of Tazzik.

So she sat in the pilots chair, checking over the instrument panel and slowing her breathing, deliberately not considering how very bizarre and unpleasant the trip had suddenly become. She found herself wishing that Kal had chosen to come with her into the cockpit, then pushed the thought aside. Kal'Reegar was her bodyguard, not her friend, and she couldn't assign roles to him that he didn't wish to live up to.

Then, from under the instrument panel, her laptop started beeping furiously.

Holding her breath, Tali picked it up. There was an incoming message, and it was marked as 'urgent'. Her heartrate spiked for a moment, hoping against hope that Shepard had found a way to contact them from wherever she was. But no, it was only Liara T'Soni.

Tali released the breath, and opened her laptop.

"Tali! Thank the goddess! I have something important to tell you!" T'Soni said, the Illium skyline visible through the picture window in her office behind her. Liara's face was flushed, her voice uncharacteristically breathy.

"Don't bother, Liara. We have Tazzik." Tali said, crossing her arms in front of her in what she hoped was an obvious gesture of distrust. Liara's new demeanor and occupation was troubling to say the least. Tali didn't enjoy the idea of being forced to work with her, even if she did have Shepard's best interests at heart underneath all the layers of subterfuge and politicking.

"This isn't about the Shadow Broker. This is about Shepard...and Thane Krios." Liara said.

Tali didn't respond. She'd assumed it was too much to ask to find out anything about Shepard's whereabouts. And Liara's continual harping on Thane Krios was very confusing and a tad frustrating.

Liara laced her fingers on the table in front of her, seemingly searching for words.

"I don't think Shepard was taken by the Shadow Broker." She said finally.

"Then by who?"

"Thane Krios."

Tali sighed deeply, exasperated.

"Dammit Liara, Thane Krios has been dead for more than a year! He was dying of Kepral's Syndrome when I met him!"

Now Liara looked exasperated.

"Don't you think I know that, Tali? All I'm telling you is what I'm hearing: Agents of the Shadow Broker have been tearing around the galaxy after Shepard and Thane Krios!"

"You must be getting bad information, Liara. There's simply no way. Thane had a prognosis of six months, and that was two years ago! And Shepard had no reason to lie to us about his death!"

Liara shifted in her chair uncomfortably.

"Tali...how much do you know about the Lazarus Project?"

Tali saw where this was going, and shook her head violently.

"No. No! Cerberus would never sink so much money into anyone who wasn't Human, not even someone as extraordinary as Thane."

"You're not thinking about this in the correct terms, Tali. You and I both know how ruthless the Illusive Man is when he has a goal. In this case, I believe he needed something that only Thane Krios possessed: knowledge concerning the identity of the Shadow Broker."

Tali sat back in her chair heavily, her mind racing with possibilities.

"Liara. You know we have his son with us. If you are wrong about this and I tell him..."

"I assure you, Tali, there is no mistake. Shepard went willingly with this person, believing him to be Thane Krios. Shepard both knew Thane very well and is _not_ easily fooled. I believe that the Cerberus Operative you have onboard right now was sent by Thane personally. He wanted to know that his son was safe while he accomplished his mission."

Everything made sense abruptly. If anyone could assassinate the Shadow Broker it was Thane Krios, and if he was suddenly resurrected, of course Shepard would go with him. Tali shivered involuntarily inside her enviro-suit. She set the autopilot and practically leapt out of her chair.

"I have to go, Liara. I have to tell Kolyat. _Keelah_, this changes everything!"

Liara sat back in her chair, looking satisfied.

"I...I'm glad I could be of some help, even if I'm stuck behind this desk. Please...tell Shepard that I wish her the best. Her, and Mr. Krios."

"I will, Liara. And thank you. From all of us." Tali said, genuinely contrite for what she'd thought about her earlier. Liara had changed...but maybe they all had.

She didn't even bother to terminate the transmission. Tali turned on her heel, and throwing the door open, strode down the hallway to the common area. Ahead, she could see Mordin, still with his Predator handgun nestled at the base of Tazzik's skull. Oriana and Kal'Reegar stood back from the scene, arms crossed. Oriana had one hand over her mouth, eyes wide. Her eyes went to Kolyat, who was standing over the kneeling form of Tazzik.

"You're lying!" Kolyat snarled at their captive, his an intensity she'd never seen from him. She looked back over to Mordin, and even the notoriously unflappable doctor was wearing a look of blatant shock.

Kolyat took a step backwards, almost stumbling, putting his back against the wall. When she approached, he looked up at her, and there were tears threatening to fall from his eyes. She could guess what piece of information Tazzik had just revealed.

"Somebody's got daddy issues." Tazzik muttered. Mordin kicked him in the tailbone and he slumped forward, hissing. Mordin's attention returned to Kolyat.

"It's true." Tali said. "Liara just contacted me. _Keelah_, it's all true. He's alive."

Kolyat slid to the ground, mouth agape.

"Goddess." He whispered.

-

Oriana's attention went to the Drell. Kolyat's eyes were suddenly unfocused, glassy. His lips were moving but no words emerged. She guessed that he had fallen into solipsism. Cerberus didn't have a lot of information on the Drell, but their unusual memories were one of the better documented features of their race.

"...last I knew, they were on Elysium—New Nassau." Tazzik gasped. The other Salarian, Mordin, had the toe of his boot under his chin.

"Why?" He said.

"Krios wrote some damned algorithm years ago and now he's got an AI to run it for him. Supposedly predicts where the Shadow Broker will be at any given time."

"And is the Shadow Broker on Elysium?" Mordin said patiently.

Tazzik laughed, though it was stifled a little by the pressure from Mordin's boot.

"You really think I'm privy to that kind of information? You don't get to be as big and powerful as the Shadow Broker by having a lot of friends."

"Let up, Mordin. He's told us all we need to know." Tali said, sounding vaguely ill.

Mordin's eyes snapped between Tazzik and Kolyat, and finally he reached down and hauled Tazzik to his feet by his bound hands, shoving him into the airlock and shutting the door.

"You frighten me sometimes, Mordin." Tali said.

Kal'Reegar holstered his assault rifle and took a step away from Tali, settling into a less protective posture.

"What are we gonna do with him?" He said. Oriana was surprised to note that he had a very distinct southern United States Human accent. Very puzzling indeed.

Mordin looked back and forth between the assembled people, a confused look on his face. He blinked.

"Kill him. Obviously."

"We can't kill him! He's an unarmed prisoner!" Tali objected.

"He's an agent of the Shadow Broker. Would kill you, were the situation reversed." Mordin said reasonably.

"Take him to law enforcement. The Alliance must have a vessel around here somewhere. Maybe C-Sec on the Citadel." Reegar piped up.

Mordin's look darkened. "Shadow Broker is bigger than law enforcement. Will be out again in hours, to come after Shepard, or Thane. Or one of us."

"That's not the point. Killing him is a contravention of..." Reegar had started to say, when Mordin hit the control panel and vented the airlock into space.

Everyone in the common area stood in silence for a moment, except for Kolyat, who was still lost inside his own head, his eyes following things only he could see. Finally, Mordin spoke.

"I'll take first piloting shift. Elysium is twelve hours away." He said, walking down the hallway and disappearing into the cockpit.

Oriana found it interesting that no one even commented on the fact that their mission goal had just shifted considerably. If Shepard and Thane Krios were indeed free, and pursuing the Shadow Broker on the Illusive Man's orders, it seemed likely that they had the situation under control. But that didn't seem like the point. Shepard was on a mission and they were going to help her with it, even if it meant tracking her down from half-way across the galaxy first.

Shepard's file at Cerberus had mentioned her incredible ability to inspire people to follow her into usually dangerous situations. At the time, Oriana hadn't believed it. She was rapidly becoming convinced.

The Quarians turned to her.

"You're...Oriana Lawson, aren't you?" Tali said.

Oriana couldn't help but smile.

"Yeah. I remember you, too." She said.

In fact, she remembered the entire incident clear as day. Her parents had done their best to convince her that all was well, but no one decided to move in the middle of the night to a planet they'd never even visited before. They spent a frantic evening packing their belongings onto a freighter, then, waiting for transport offworld in the cold early morning, Miranda had appeared. Behind her, in the shadows, were the very recognizable Commander Shepard and a slight female Quarian with a shotgun strapped across her back. She could tell from the scuffs in their armor and the flush on Miranda's face that there'd been fighting, but of course Miranda wouldn't speak of it.

Tali stepped forward, offering her hand.

"Tali'Zorah Vas Neema, and this is Kal'Reegar Vas Auriga. Ah, just call us Tali and Reegar."

Oriana laughed. "Tali and Reegar. Thank you, by the way, for what you did for my family on Illium."

Tali dipped her head slightly.

"Of course. Anything for the crew."

"Did you know?" Kolyat's strange deep voice interrupted them all. She looked over to him in surprise. He was still sitting on the floor, shoulders rolled forward. The coloration on his face had gone from aquamarine to a dull cool blue.

"Did you know about my father?" He repeated quietly, but his eyes were narrowed, his jaw set.

"No. I didn't. Cerberus is very much a 'need-to-know' kind of organization." Oriana said. Kolyat regarded her coolly, and for some reason, a shiver went up her spine.

All the breath seemed to come out of him, and at last he turned, his eyes falling away from her.

"Goddess. We have to help them. Or he'll get himself killed—again." He said.

"Of course we'll help them." Reegar said. "We all owe Shepard our lives."

Unexpectedly, she found herself reaching down and squeezing Kolyat's shoulder. He looked up at her quizzically.

"I'm coming too. Hell, I've been assigned to make sure you don't get into too much trouble. This is probably the best way to do that."

Kolyat snorted, some color coming back to his face.

"I'm flattered...I think." He said, a smile ghosting across his face.

"Glad to have you onboard, ma'am." Reegar said, reaching forward to give her a very firm handshake.

Oriana was pleasantly surprised. She'd been told that Quarians more-or-less universally despised Cerberus and anyone associated with them. Then again, with Shepard and Thane technically functioning as Cerberus Operatives--at least for the moment--it was perhaps more difficult to make snap judgments on the morality of the organization.

Tali let out a shaky sigh, smoothing her hands over the intricately embroidered veil that was draped over her head and shoulders.

"I can't believe he did that. No, I take that back. I can believe he did that, I just _wish_ he hadn't." Tali said, the reflective surface of her face-plate reflecting the door to the airlock back at them.

Kolyat looked confused, his eyes scanning the room.

"Wait—where's Tazzik?" He asked.

"He stepped outside for a moment." Oriana said dryly.

"_Keelah_. I'm going to bed. And...oh." Tali looked around at the four doorways to the personal quarters. She sighed again. "Oriana, take my room. I'll bunk with Kal. If it's alright with him."

Reegar cleared his throat.

"Of course, ma'am." He said, blushing so hard she could almost see it through the face-plate of his helmet.

-

The Quarians retreated to Reegar's room, and Oriana found herself in Tali's quarters, surrounded by computer components, ammunition, and high-explosives, all organized with almost obsessive neatness on racks that covered all available wall space.

She undressed and lay down on the too big, too hard Turian-designed bed, wondering for not the first time in the last few hours what the hell she was doing. Her first assignment for Cerberus was supposed to be rather cut-and-dry—find Kolyat Krios, report back with his whereabouts and general condition. It really wasn't her job to make sure he didn't kill himself, and she _definitely_ wasn't responsible for helping him eliminate the Shadow Broker.

Her Cerberus handlers really had not been kidding about Shepard. Her very involvement made seemingly sane people lose their minds. Herself included, apparently.

Oriana groaned and sat up, her elbows on her knees, face in her hands. She pulled her now wildly-inappropriate "clubbing" dress back on and skulked out into the common room, hoping that there was something edible by Human standards onboard.

To her surprise, Kolyat was still awake, sitting at the huge table, his arms around one knee, the other foot on an empty chair. He was very tall and lanky--the only one of them that didn't look comically undersized while sitting on Turian furniture. His armored jacket and boots were gone now, or she would have assumed that he'd never left the common area.

"I couldn't sleep either." He said, shrugging.

Oriana ran a hand through her hair.

"Anything edible on this ship?" She said by way of a greeting. "I haven't eaten since yesterday—I didn't trust the food on Omega."

He stood, stretching in a way that reminded her of a cat.

"I don't blame you. You're lucky Mordin and I stocked up before we left Illium." He said, crossing to a series of cupboards, the opening them and looking inside.

"We don't have anything specifically for Humans, but Drell are omnivores and our diets aren't totally dissimilar. Dad had a fondness for sushi, for example. Or rather, I guess he still does."

He handed her a foil packet. There was a picture on the front that seemed to depict a frog with antlers sitting happily in a soup bowl. Kolyat apparently saw her quizzical expression.

"Don't you Humans say that everything tastes like chicken anyway?" He said wryly, grinning.

"I think Humans only said that until they met the Turians." She said, wondering how exactly one was supposed to prepare this item. Eventually he took it out of her hands and poured the contents onto a plate, which he then stuck in the rehydrator.

She sat at the table while the rehydrator did its work.

"What is your father like?" She said. "Cerberus told me all about his confirmed kill count and briefed me on his psych profile, but...well, I can't help but wonder what kind of a person he really is."

Kolyat crossed his arms over his chest, leaning against the counter.

"He's...kind of difficult to deal with, honestly. When I was a kid he drove me crazy because he was so serious all the time. My mother used to say that it was because of his training--that he never really learned how to not be on the job. I guess I believe that."

Kolyat sighed heavily.

"We wrote letters back and forth after he met Shepard. He seemed so happy. Relaxed, even. Like he wasn't always crawling around in the ceiling plotting escape routes and field-stripping then reassembling his weapons over and over. It was nice. He needs somebody around to...oh, this will sound so weird to you."

"What?"

"Ancient Rakhanan warriors called it 'battle sleep'. Almost like solipsism. It's what makes the Drell so effective as soldiers and assassins. We can...compartmentalize our brains so effectively. Go into the part concerned with war and killing and just stay there for however long it takes. Dad needs somebody to pull him out of that part of himself so that he can be a real person instead of a killing machine."

"Interesting." Oriana said as the rehydrator popped open. Kolyat handed her the plate then sat. She stared at what looked like a pile of noodles with nondescript vegetable bits and unidentifiable meat slices. Eventually, she steeled herself and tried it.

Kolyat laughed at the face she made.

"Yeah, well. Instant rations aren't exactly the pinnacle of Drell cuisine."

She chewed and swallowed carefully.

"Ah. I see." She said diplomatically, then, catching his eyes, found herself laughing as well. He had a deep, full-bodied laugh that seemed to belong on a much older man--the sort that pulled you along into it--and Oriana found herself giggling furiously, face in her hands.

"And what about you?" She said, catching her breath when the moment had finally passed. It felt good to laugh after a very tense few days.

"What kind of person are you?"

Kolyat wiped away tears of mirth, putting his chin on one hand in a way that she found distinctly Human.

"I'm not much like dad." He said. "Which always seems to startle people for some reason."

"I don't think I'm much like my twin sister, which also surprises most people." She said. "But we had much different upbringings."

"Right. I grew up in art museums and watching plays with my mother. Playing in the ocean and painting all day." Kolyat said, and she saw the moment pass by in his strange eyes—deep green irises almost hidden by black scleras. He could have caught the memory and sank into it, but didn't.

"It was the life that dad wanted for us. He wanted us to have whatever we wanted. And he didn't want me to be like him." Kolyat said, his tone abruptly sliding back into sadness, drawing invisible circles on the table with his fingertip.

Oriana saw her hand reach out and squeeze his almost like it belonged to someone else. His skin didn't feel like she'd expected it to—cool but not cold, smooth except for the callouses on his knuckles.

His eyes found her, blatantly surprised. Oriana wasn't sure what she was doing, but when his hand closed around hers a tingle passed through her that seemed to indicate that it was the correct course of action.

His lips quirked into a smile.

"I should leave you alone. You need to get some sleep in preparation for a long day of making sure I don't get my head blown off." He said, but didn't let go of her hand.

Oriana cleared her throat.

"Yeah. You're probably right." She said, but didn't try to pull her hand away either.

Long moments passed in silence.

"Or you could try one of the desert rations. No weird meat this time, I swear." He said finally, his smile growing.

"Great. I'm still hungry and the frog noodles freak me out." Oriana said.

Kolyat snorted, going to the cabinets again.

It was going to be an interesting night, Oriana thought.

-

It was going to be an interesting night, Kal'Reegar thought, trying to cover himself with a spare towel from the restroom. On such a small vessel, there was no room for extras—even extra pillows and blankets, as it turned out. Above him, on the bed, Tali sighed.

"Kal. You don't have to sleep on the floor." She said.

"I insist, ma'am." He responded.

"And stop calling me 'ma'am'! We've known each other for years now!"

"Yes, ma'am. Tali."

Kal'Reegar had been a child when the _Auriga_ had a massive systems failure and an emergency landing on Hathor—right in the middle of a Human colony. To be specific, a very conservative, religious Human colony that spurned tech in favor of farming and living simply. Because they had no FTL communications technology, he was almost an adult by the time the Flotilla located the survivors. The experience had left him with a lingering sense of Human propriety—and a very noticeable accent he'd never been able to shake.

Most Quarians (used to crowded conditions from an early age) would have no problem sharing a bed with a very attractive and eligible woman—particularly since she was asking him to--but that damned feeling that it would be _improper_ kept him on the hard deck-plating under a towel.

"Kal. I have a shotgun. Get into bed." She said.

* * *

_Beginning quote originally by Alexander Smith. Thank you everyone for sticking with me through all these delays. As always, your encouragement means a lot to me!_


	12. The Sea

_"Fear not for the future; weep not for the past." -Matriarch Desseca, Justicar, "The End of Endings"_

* * *

Thane was in the middle of a dream—green eyes and shining armor in an endless desert, Irikah dancing at night by a bonfire, silver gleaming at her wrists, eyes reflecting back the light—when something startled him awake.

He sat up, disoriented for a moment. He was in their quarters aboard the _Shadow_, with no idea how he'd gotten there. He knew what had woken him, however: the hum of the engine, the slight rattle of the deckplating wasn't there. They weren't moving.

He sat up carefully.

"Where are we, EDI? What's happening?" He said, his voice raspy from disuse.

"We are presently docked at the Turbulent Undercurrents refueling station, two hours from our destination: Kahje."

"How long have I been unconscious?" He asked, but it wasn't EDI who answered.

"Forty-eight hours." Shepard said, entering the room quietly, a bottle of distilled water in her hand. She handed it to him, and sat down.

Shepard's bare arm was covered in bruises, but the bone seemed to have at least knitted. All of her knuckles were skinned and her eyes had deep shadows under them, but otherwise she seemed to be well.

Thane realized how thirsty he was, and he drank deeply as Shepard looked on.

"You should be well-rested, at least." She said, leaning in to embrace him. Thane reflected not for the first time on how much more prominent her ribs felt since he'd...since he'd died. Once this was all over, he would make sure Shepard took care of herself better-ate regularly, maybe even slept once in awhile.

"You were magnificent, _Siha_." He said. "I'm sorry I wasn't more helpful."

"Oh, please." She said, smirking over his shoulder but making no move to relinquish her hold on him. "I have to save _your _ass occasionally. It's only fair."

"What about you? Are you alright?" He asked, inspecting her arm.

Shepard was very nonchalant for a woman who'd just killed an entire mercenary cell, including one of their most dangerous enemies, in some cases with nothing but her hands.

"I pulled something dragging you back to the _Shadow_. You're heavier than you look, you know." She smirked.

_"Siha..."_

Shepard sighed. "Broken arm from falling out the damned window, three broken fingers from...well, beating Balak to death. And I really did pull something in my back. Regardless, I'm alright now. EDI has not only complete first-aid guides for Humans and Drell, but also our personal medical histories."

"We are ready to disembark, Mr. Krios." EDI's cool voice said from overhead.

"Hey, he's not even dressed! I'm piloting, you can talk to me." Shepard said. EDI didn't respond.

"She likes you better." Shepard sighed.

* * *

Thane joined her in the cockpit as they were beginning their approach to Kahje. Shepard turned to speak to him, but was stopped by the look on his face.

In the soft light from the instrument panel, his face seemed wan, drawn. His lips were pursed, eyes narrowed, as he leaned forward and rested a hand on the panel, gazing at the stunning panoramic view of the ocean world as they spun in orbit around it.

Thane took a deep breath, his dark eyes sliding closed.

"I never thought I'd see the planet of my birth again." He said softly.

Kahje was deepest blue-green, only disturbed by swirling white cloud cover-and very occasionally- a chain of green specks that were tiny islands. The line of termination divided the planet in two, and on the night side, from deep within the sea, huge clusters of lights that looked almost like bioluminesence were visible even from space—the great Hanar cities of Kahje.

"There-" Thane said, surprising her. He was pointing at one particularly bright spot in the sea. "That is the seat of the Illuminated Primacy, in Central Encompassing. It's the capital. The Hanar embassy in Keres has beautiful pictures of it."

Shepard looked up at him thoughtfully. His expression had softened, but his eyes seemed to be looking past the view.

"It's not that I'm unhappy." Thane said, seemingly reading her thoughts. "It's only that...well, I haven't seen this place since the last time I tracked the Shadow Broker. I came back after ending Irikah's killers, only to find that the home we shared was gone and my son was..."

He sighed.

"You've heard this all before. I won't let this distract me. If the Shadow Broker is here, we will find her." He said firmly.

Shepard took a deep breath. Someday, there would be time for them. No looming threats, no politics, no horrible wasting illnesses. But until that day…

"I'm putting us down in Keres. We have an audience with Arnida Hyksos at the Assassin's Guild." She said, pulling her attention away from him and back down to the instrument panel.

"Excellent." Thane said, then turned and went to the arms closet.

* * *

They had a tricky landing in the Guild's hangar, then two enormous gull doors closed overtop of them and they had to wait as the moisture scrubbers took the precipitation out of the air. Finally, an automated voice gave them permission to disembark.

The _Shadow_'s air supply was positively damp in comparison to what the Drell were apparently used to. Two steps outside the ship's airlock and already it was making Shepard's nasal passages hurt.

Despite it being mid-afternoon local time, the hangar was nearly deserted. Thane took the lead.

She wasn't sure what she'd expected from a building the headquartered an organization called an "assassin's guild", but this wasn't it. It was neat, and well lit. Soft music was playing from somewhere. Huge images of Kahje's underwater cities and Rakhana's now extinct civilization graced the stone walls. It looked more or less like government buildings looked anywhere.

They were half-way down a long hallway when another Drell (in fact, the first female of the species she'd ever seen in person) appeared.

The woman was easily a head taller than herself, slender, but with a wiry strength apparent in her frame. She was wearing a floor-length sleeveless dress that highlighted pronounced black markings and cleavage rather more impressive than most Drell women possessed.

Her face lit up when she saw them. Her smile was brilliant.

"President Hyksos. May I present…" Thane began, but the woman waved her hand at him to stop.

"No need for formalities, Thane. It's good to see you." She said, and put her arms around him. Shepard was surprised to feel a tiny shiver of jealousy go through her. _Yes, the Drell have women too,_ she reminded herself, _and some of them have even met Thane before. _

She didn't have much more time to wonder, however, before Arnida disengaged herself from Thane and was suddenly very enthusiastically shaking her hand.

"It's an honor to meet one such as yourself, Commander Shepard. I believe that you are both the first SpecTRe and the first Human ever to set foot in Keres. I'm so pleased you've come to see us. Both of you, please come to my office. We have much to discuss." She declared, finally releasing Shepard's hand from her vice-grip and sweeping down the hallway.

Thane shot her an amused look, probably in response to the utter confusion on her face. She wasn't sure what she'd expected of the leader of the Assassin's Guild or the Drell in general, but this probably wasn't it either.

"And may I say, Shepard, the keratin that grows from the follicles on your head is quite becoming. I was unsure what to expect when reading extranet articles on your people, but now that I see it in person, I quite like it." Arnida said blithely.

Shepard nearly choked, but managed to commute it into a polite cough. Thane looked increasingly amused, but kept silent, hands clasped behind his back.

Finally, they arrived at Arnida's office. She swung open the door, and Shepard was immediately impressed. Huge picture windows looked out over the city, and beyond, the Encompassing, stretching into the distance.

Thane closed the door behind them, and Arnida dropped into her chair, resting her elbows on her desk.

"…So you're after the Shadow Broker, Mr. Krios? You always were rather ambitious. Of course, you've also come back from the Sea once already, so perhaps you're correct to set your goals high."

Thane crossed his arms casually and leaned back against the door.

"Your assassins are coming after Shepard and myself, Arnida. I can't help but be offended." He said, skirting her praise, his voice flat.

Arnida's body language changed subtly. She smoothed a wrinkled out of her skirts and let out a sigh, leaning forward, hands clasped on the desk in front of her.

"There are those in this organization that do not approve of our investment in your recovery, Mr. Krios. Or rather, they did not. We should be using past tenses when describing them now, I gather."

"You gather correctly. I'm sorry to be the cause of such a rift in the Guild." Thane said, giving no indication that he was surprised at the revelation she's just laid out in front of them.

Arnida spread her slender hands in acquiescence.

"Such are the difficulties in any large organization." She said.

"What are the chances that the Shadow Broker has infiltrated the Guild?" Thane said, his voice still flat and expressionless.

"Fair," she replied.

Shepard gaped, but kept silent. Thane definitely had what the Marines had once called "the home field advantage", and she had nothing relevant to add to the discussion.

"Why did you invest in my 'recovery', Arnida?"

Arnida snorted.

"Mr. Krios, I hope you won't think I'm flattering you when I say that you were our most talented assassin. I always hoped that after…after the demise of your wife, you might come back to us-"

Thane interrupted.

"My life is my own, Ms. Hyksos. Your dealings with Cerberus in no way obligate me to work for you again." He said, eyes narrowing almost imperceptibly.

Arnida's jaw tightened.

"Then why are you here?" She said quietly.

"We're after the Shadow Broker. I need to know if she's here on Kahje."

"I know that the Shadow Broker does not reside within the Keres dome-I'm certain that I would have rooted her out by now. I've been doing my own research since the little split developed inside our organization." She said.

"Thank you for the information. We won't take up any more of your time." He opened the door and beaconed Shepard forward.

"Mr. Krios-" Arnida said, standing. Shepard was already in the hallway, but Thane turned to look over his shoulder.

"Was it so terrible to work for us? We always treated you well." She said.

"This is the last time I kill for another." He said simply, and closed the door.

* * *

Back in the _Shadow_, Thane was running scans that he couldn't concentrate on. In the navigator's position, Shepard was also looking through hundreds of figures, shaking her head.

"There's only one island showing up as habitated. Xana…th…"

"Xanatherios." He said quietly.

Shepard looked up, surprised.

"You know of it?"

"It's a Drell colony."

"I'm not seeing a biosphere."

"There isn't one." Thane said. "It's for sufferers of Kepral Syndrome. Once the condition has progressed so far, there's no point in avoiding Kahje's humid air."

"Kepral Syndrome?" Shepard said, clearing her throat and feigning interest in the instrument panel. Shepard was so utterly straightforward that she had never learned how to lie properly. Or conceal her feelings.

"I think we can safely rule the islands out. EDI, I'm taking us back to Keres."

"Belay that, EDI." He said quietly.

Her gaze snapped up to meet his, but he couldn't look at her.

"Thirty percent of my people have this illness, _Siha_. It is fatal in one-hundred percent of all sufferers. Except for me. Or rather, permanently fatal. I won't hide from it, and I won't let it interfere with our mission. Take us in."

Shepard cleared her throat again, nodding, her eyes straight ahead as the _Shadow_ skimmed the blue waters of the Encompassing.

He recited _Nimisha's Declaration_ to himself as the decon cycle sprayed cold anti-microbial fluid down onto them. Guilt was an ever-present companion, and not one that he appreciated by his side.

_(The blessings of the gods are mine,_

__

I am spared suffering by their own will,

If Arashu's armor covers my skin while spears pierce my brethren,

Kalahira will receive them before me.)

Shepard clicked a clip into place on her assault rifle, sighting down the scope once before hoisting it back over her shoulder. She stretched her "bad" shoulder out of habit, even though millions of nanites had long since broken down the old scar tissue.

"What are the chances that she's here?" She said, cracking her knuckles.

"Minimal. I don't think even the Shadow Broker could disguise herself successfully as a Drell. But targets have surprised me before. She may be hiding out on Xanatherios because she knows we're inclined to avoid it."

"Hmm. What are the chances we'll significantly upset the residents by landing here?"

"Also minimal. They're dying, after all. They have larger concerns."

The decon cycle ended abruptly and the airlock door slid open. The sudden influx hot, humid air as the ship's internal pressure equalized quite literally took his breath away. Finally, he took a shuddering, deeply uncomfortable breath.

Shepard stiffened beside him and looked over in unconcealed horror. Perhaps it hadn't yet occurred to her that he still technically carried Kepral's Syndrome. Nanites could repair his lung tissue as it failed, keeping him stable, but they couldn't relieve the feeling of crushing heaviness high humidity still brought him.

Thane still occasionally dreamt of death-Shepard's soft hands entwined with his as he slowly drowned. He hadn't wanted to leave her so soon, but the truth was that at that point death had been casting its shadows over him for the better part of ten years.

"We have respirators." She said quietly, perhaps already knowing he would refuse. Thane shook his head.

Outside, a warm wind blew off of the Encompassing, rustling bina trees with their long, drooping leaves. The sun shone brightly, unobscured by cloud cover. A quarter of a klick away, the thatched roofs of a small settlement were visible. These people lived simply: fishing, swimming, and enjoying the last days of their lives.

Shepard's strange hand found his, and together they walked out into the shadows.

* * *

_I wish I had some excuse for my extended absense from this story and indeed all my other fanfiction. Without spinning you a total sob story, life has been difficult lately, and it's tough to concentrate on anything. Thank you to everyone who hasn't abandoned me and this story. Your comments truly keep me writing (or at least make me feel seriously guilty when I'm not writing)! If all goes well, there are only 4-6 chapters left in this story, so we're almost there!_

_Also, please excuse my continually changing method of dividing up sections! First, stopped accepting double-line breaks from me, then it stopped excepting a single dash to deliniate between sections, so now I have to use the full line. Sorry. I know it's bloody annoying. _


	13. The Solipsis

_"I have more memories that if I was a thousand years old." -Charles Baudelaire, Human author_

* * *

It wasn't difficult to find the aftermath of Shepard and his father's most recent visit. Mordin knew Shepard well, knew that the woman was, in some ways, a slave to the past. He set them down at New Nassau, in the district closest to where the Skyllian Blitz had begun, years ago.

It was the dead of the night when they landed, but Kolyat felt jittery, almost. The initial shock of the news had crystallized into a kind of single-minded determination that was currently moving through his veins like fire. Adrenaline made him unable to rest, made him pace in the common area of their tiny ship, cracking his knuckles and falling intermittently into memories.

_("Don't come here again, Kolyat. My son." Thane says, not crying, not yet. The bottom falls out of his stomach. Thane's body is almost spent, his time on this side of the sea shorter, apparently, than he had expected. Thane looks odd in the too-big hospice garments. The room is too bright. Shepard has put fresh-cut flowers on the windowsill. Thane is fading faster than they are. "Remember me taking you for walks on the beach, before your mother woke in the mornings. Remember that instead. My son." My son. Thane keeps saying that. "Alright. Dad." He says, his jaw clenching, swallowing reflexively. He turns, not seeing the hallway, not seeing anything, yet his feet carry him away.)_

They split up at the harbor, spreading out in a circle, paying off hotel staff, asking questions. It was 2 AM local time and Kolyat was on foot, walking to the next establishment, when Kal'Reegar's voice came over the radio.

"A Human woman and a companion of unknown race were just _really hard _on a hotel room in Regent Square. A few Batarians blew the window in and then met various messy fates all over the carpet inside. Cleaning lady's been tryin' to get blood splatters off the ceiling for a day now."

"That's my dad." Kolyat snorted, reversing direction in mid-step and zipping up his jacket against a cool ocean breeze. His formerly-leisurely pace quickened.

"And our Shepard." Tali's voice said dryly from over the comm.

* * *

When Kolyat arrived at the hotel, Kal'Reegar directed him to come around the back, to the side of the building that faced the sea walls.

Reegar, Tali, and Oriana were gazing up at the second floor, where a plastic tarp was flapping noisily in the breeze, covering what had once been a window. He'd noticed a few law-enforcement vehicles out front.

Oriana pointed at the break in the sea wall with her chin.

"Guess who the high tide just beached?" She smirked up at him.

"Who?"

"The late, great Balak Nictos." She said. "It's nice when it's easy."

Kolyat blinked at her.

"Well, that's convenient. Goddess knows we're due for some good luck." He said thoughtfully.

Tali piped up.

"I just spoke with our old associate Liara T'Soni. This...Balak has been stalking Shepard since the Skyllian Blitz. Right after the Collector mission, Shepard and Thane investigated some Prothean ruins on a tip from Liara. It was an ambush. Liara's information was the bait, and it came right from the Shadow Broker. Unlike most people who try to hurt Shepard, Balak lived." She said, then snorted. "Until lately, it seems."

"Where's Mordin?" Kolyat asked, attempting to assimilate a great deal of new information at once.

Oriana rubbed her hands on her upper arms, narrow shoulders bunched up- probably because the temperature was dropping rapidly and she seemed to weigh about 50 kilograms.

"He's managed to convince the New Nassau cops that he's a SpecTRe. He's examining the body. It's a matter, apparently, of galactic security. Something about a plot to blow up the Citadel. The council, he said, is insistent that he retrieve the information on Balak's omni-tool. He told every cop who objected that if they 'obstructed' him, he'd tell the Council personally that their precinct was responsible for 'losing us the war on galactic terrorism'." Oriana said, then sighed.

"That old man is a _master_ bullshit artist." She added wistfully, shivering.

Kolyat stripped off his jacket, handing it to her.

"He's elevated lying to an art-form." He agreed, just as Mordin himself appeared from the break in the seawall, marching toward them authoritatively.

"The ship." He muttered toward them as he went past, his voice carefully devoid of inflection. "Now."

* * *

They let Mordin get a lead, then followed after him, trying not to walk with too much purpose. Kolyat led, hands in his pockets. The Quarians followed, chatting with each other about nothing in particular. Oriana walked drag, practically swimming in Kolyat's jacket.

She was trying, without success, to notice how great it smelled. She'd noticed before that Kolyat smelled nice, though not in a predictable way; a bit like tobacco, or dry autumn leaves. Oriana had been a little flabbergasted when he'd handed her his jacket. She was not used to men being particularly gallant. Whatever sort of person this Thane was, he apparently had instilled uncommonly good manners in his son.

They all loaded onto the _Neelena_, and before the decon cycle even finished, Mordin had her in the air and away. As the door to the common area opened, Mordin appeared, arms crossed over his chest.

"What do you know about the Kahje Assassin's Guild, young Mr. Krios?" He said, typically without preamble.

Kolyat stiffened slightly, eyes narrowing.

"Dad worked for them, until he met mom. Then they retired him." He said.

Mordin smiled a slightly deranged smile.

"Mr. Krios, you and I both know-no one retires from government service." He said. "Ah, no matter. Arnida Hyksos? President of the Guild? You're familiar with her?"

"No."

Mordin sighed. "About to become so. We're going to Kahje." He said, then turned and stalked back down the hallway into the cockpit.

"I've got two young guys, one with black hearts, one with red diamonds." Oriana said, eyes narrowed at the cards.

"Ah." Kal'Reegar said, then put his cards face-down on the table. "I fold."

"You're not supposed to _tell_ us what's in your hand." Kolyat muttered out of the corner of his mouth, in her direction.

"You've _really _never played poker before, Oriana?" Tali laughed.

"Why would I lie?" Oriana snorted, throwing her cards down.

"Here we are: two Quarians and a Drell playing Texas Hold 'Em, with one Human girl who can't tell a king from a jack." Kolyat sighed, discarding and picking up more cards from the pile.

"Hey! I sorted that out!" She said defensively. "And excuse me for concentrating on my _education_. There isn't much time at J'Ari Women's Academy for _gambling_."

Kolyat rolled his eyes in what was apparently a universal gesture. He reached across her and picked up her cards, fanning them out in his hands, then placing them in hers. His hands were cool, his fingertips slightly calloused. He smelled like autumn. Oriana snapped herself forcibly back to the game.

"Get rid of these..." He said, plucking two cards from her hands and handing her two new ones. "Now look at these ones on the table and compare to what you have in your hand."

"Ooh!" She said. "The jacks and...here! Two threes! Whatisit...full house!"

Kolyat smiled at her, chuckling. Oriana felt a blush starting. He threw his own cards down on the table.

"Beginner's luck." Tali muttered, pushing a pile of plastic discs toward her.

* * *

Kolyat laid down for a few hours, intermittently falling into solipsism, snapping out of it for long enough to bite his nails and pace in his tiny room, then laying back down again. There was no sleep.

_("I want to show mommy!" He shouts over his shoulder to old Aunt Lynotte, who is still climbing stairs. He's clutching the piece of paper in his hands. He made her a painting while Aunt Lynotte and grandma and he were at the beach. He races ahead down the empty hall, but even before he reaches the bedroom, he knows that something is wrong. The air is so still, too still even for early morning. He turns the corner and sees her, tied upright in the chair. Her eyes are wrong, milky. Her mouth is slack, her dress is torn. There's blood and broken bits of furniture everywhere.)_

He'd wished and hoped and prayed for years afterwards, bargained with every deity he could think of. He had fantasies that it had all been some sort of mistake. That he would wake up one morning and his mother would be in the kitchen, singing and grating gridsa for breakfast, her bracelets jingling.

He'd been upset when his father had died, of course. But Thane's death didn't leave the gaping wound that Irikah's had. There was a tiny, guilty part of his brain that wished that it was his mother who'd miraculously come back from the Sea. But no, Cerberus had no use for _her_.

Kolyat sat down in the center of the floor and sobbed unabashedly, face in his hands.

He felt traitorous for the thought as soon as it surfaced, but he couldn't deny it. Guilt and sadness and exhaustion coalesced in his head, pushing everything else out.

So when the door to his quarters swished open, he almost jumped right out of his skin.

Kolyat swore colorfully, pushing tears away with the heel of his hand, angry at the intrusion before he could even be embarrassed.

It was Oriana. She was standing in the doorway, backlit from the common area. Her lips were parted, her eyes darted over to him.

"I...brought you your jacket back. I thought you might want it." She said, holding out his garment at him, visibly trembling.

Kolyat stood, and stared down at her. She palmed the door closed.

"Oh hell. No, I didn't." She said, tossing it aside. She stepped up to him, then pulled his face down to hers.

His brain jammed up, his thoughts instantly derailed. He wrapped the small, intensely warm Oriana in his arms. Her lips felt superheated on his, her hands soft on his face. It had been more than a year since he'd kissed _anybody_. He hoped fervently that he remembered how.

"I've been listening to you pace and mutter and cry for hours." Oriana said, breaking the kiss abruptly. She put her face in his chest. He could feel her heart pounding furiously against his own ribcage. She was still shivering. Oriana took a huge breath in.

"I barged in here and now I don't know what to do with you, you big jerk. I mean, I didn't make it up, did I? The other night? With the hand-holding and the laughing? And you gave me your jacket? You're not even Human, you know." She laughed, and it sounded slightly unhinged. "I'm not Drell. I don't know anything _about_ the Drell! I should probably go. I'm not this kind of girl. I just wanted you to stop pacing and go to sleep."

She slipped out of his arms and started for the door. He caught her hand with his.

"You didn't make it up." He said, clearing his throat. He dropped her hand, and his eyes. "Thanks for my jacket back. I appreciate it."

"Hey." Oriana said, smoothing her black hair down, and readjusting her shirt. "No problem. Goodnight." She said, then opened the door and strode out, closing it behind her.

Kolyat blinked at his bedroom door, the cot creaking under his weight as he sat. The whole incident had taken 30, maybe 45 seconds. If his jacket wasn't lying crumpled on the cot next to him, he would have thought that perhaps his fevered brain had conjured it up. He could still feel Oriana's lips, her soft hands on his face.

He was attracted to her, of course. Despite the fact that she worked for Cerberus (whose opinions concerning non-Humans were well-known), the feeling was apparently mutual. Her surprise visit hadn't made him particularly sleepy, but it certainly had distracted him. Kolyat chuckled, shaking his head.

"Goodnight, Miss Lawson." He sighed at last.

* * *

_I won't lie: I don't think this was a particularly strong chapter. It was really more of a transition into the "endgame" sequence of this story, which means that only 4-5 chapters remain. I'd like to thank everyone who has stuck with me for this tale. It's taken me through some really remarkably tough times and into better ones. Your support and readership has consistently made me happy and grateful. I appreciate it more than you know._


	14. The Convergence

_"There is nothing like returning to a place unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have been altered"-Nelson Mandela, Human Activist and Political Leader_

* * *

Back in the comforting darkness of the cabin, Shepard lay awake, tangled in sheets, listening to Thane's soft breathing.

He didn't stir. When she touched his face he turned into her hand but didn't wake. Listening to Thane's breathing was something that she'd sometimes done to the exclusion of her own sleep, of course. When he'd been ill. She'd been hyperaware of the sounds of his lungs failing. Every tiny, unconscious gasp or wheeze would jolt her out of the soundest of sleeps. It took a toll on her, though she tried to hide it from him. For the last few months of his illness, she estimated she'd gotten perhaps two hours of real rest per night.

After Shepard sent the chilled body back (she thought) to Kahje and what was left of his family, she found she couldn't sleep then, either. The silence of their too-big bed was deafening.

Tears slid down her cheeks and she let them, carefully keeping her breath from hitching so she wouldn't disturb Thane's sleep. She needn't have worried: Thane continued to slumber peacefully, almost heavily. His breath, of course, was soft and even.

She'd wondered (after the sheer brain-ruining shock of his return had passed) if Thane would be troubled by being sustained wholly by what was, basically, a tiny swarm of semi-intelligent worker-machines: the Drell had very strong cultural opinions on the purity of the body.

But Thane was also incredibly adaptable, and, seemingly effortlessly, he accepted the unusual circumstances of his new existence and kept going. Maybe once their current campaign was over, they would speak of it. After all, they were the only two beings in the whole of the galaxy who'd seen death and returned.

Or maybe...they wouldn't. They'd confronted his mortality together, then the painful past on this trip. They'd visited the ghosts of friends and lovers. Maybe they'd spent enough time considering the afterlife.

"_Siha." _He said then, his voice a little rough from sleep. "What is it?"

Shepard let out of cleansing breath, pushing tears away, then shifted into his arms. He pulled her close, one hand going to the base of her skull, his fingers in her hair.

Instead of responding, she kissed him, unwilling to consider that in five hours they would be landing on the planet of her birth, to continue what seemed like an impossible search.

Thane chuckled, his hands coming up to cup her face, but the laugh died when his thumbs found the wetness on her cheeks.

"How do you put it aside, Thane? When you can recall every instant of the past, how do you move on?" She whispered.

Thane was silent for a long time.

"The past is never gone, _Siha_." He said, stroking her hair, then sighed. "The Drell don't see the passage of time in the way that others do. Our deeds, the events of our lives, they become a part of us. They exist within us, and they are as real as the current moments of our lives. We are...composed of the myriad moments that shape us, form our personalities.

So time never truly _passes_, it simply adds up. We collect experiences, we learn. With each day, we become more actualized beings, become more complete. Hopefully, we eventually approach wisdom."

"Do you _wish_ you could let it go?" She asked. Thane was silent again.

"I've been seeking closure for a long time. But I think that moment is near." He said. There was no malice in his voice; Shepard did not hear the need for revenge. Thane, in seeking the Shadow Broker, was merely correcting a problem.

Shepard nodded, knowing that although it was pitch dark in the little cabin, Thane could see her. She leaned in to kiss him again.

"You're my present, and my future, _Siha_. And the future has never looked better." He whispered.

They undressed each other silently, with the efficiecy of practiced lovers. Shepard had never been in a relationship where her partner's every movement, every want, was familiar. From the moment their hands first linked, Shepard had known that Thane would transcend everything she'd experienced before.

Finally, she pulled him on top of her, unwilling to wait for the moment any longer.

"Impatient." Thane observed, but let her pull him inside nontheless. He gasped, cupping her face with one hand, kissing her throat.

No, it had never seemed ephemeral with Thane. It was impossible not to know, even in the beginning, that he would shape her future. The first time he touched her hands, down in the cool darkness of the Life Support hatch, an area of life Shepard had never even known existed opened to her. Shepard was unsure if she would ever truly find wisdom, but together, perhaps they had a chance at completion.

Thane pulled her on top of him. She leaned forward, catching his mouth, a familiar feeling building quickly.

"Impatient." She managed to say, before she lost the words.

Every moment of his life had shaped him into the most extraordinary man she'd ever known. The events of her life, the decisions, both wise and unwise, had moulded her into the woman he loved.

In the darkness, after they'd sorted out the tangled sheets and crawled back under them, they lay in each others arms and Shepard finally slept.

She dreamed of the cold, suffocating depth of space. She saw herself readying Thane in his casket, about to send him away, to the Sea. But the memories didn't hold her, didn't crush her with their weight. They were a part of her, but only a part. She moved past them, onto the cool Rakhanan night with its blazing stars, the hulking burned-out monoliths of buildings. Over the Encompassing, lit from within, seeming to go on and on forever, deepest blue interrupted only by tiny coral atolls and dots of black volcanic islands. She sat with Thane in the cockpit of the _Shadow_, their hands clasped as the Mass Relay pulled them away from the known and into the uncertain depths of the galaxy.

Together.

* * *

Tali stood in the cockpit of the _Neelena_ until they were free of Kahje's atmosphere and back in space. Mordin was setting the autopilot to take them to just outside the Hira Relay, but she was too impatient to watch him.

She palmed open the door and stalked out into the hallway, toward the common area, already hearing Kolyat's deep voice.

"...a very strange meeting." He was saying. "She was borderline hostile. She said they'd been to Rakhana and to see the Guild already, we know they just left Elysium. The last planet on their list was the Human homeworld."

"Earth?" Tali asked, and three heads swivelled to look at her.

Kolyat nodded, sitting back on the bench, arms crossed over his chest.

"That's what Arnida Hyksos said. She was very helpful, though not very nice to talk to." He said, looking a little overwhelmed, biting on a thumbnail.

"So she saw them? Shepard and Thane? Definitely?" Oriana asked earnestly, leaning across the table toward him.

"Oh yes." Kolyat said, turning his attention to her. "She said they came to her to tell her that the Guild had been infiltrated by the Shadow Broker, which, she says, she was already well aware of. They're alive, but they've got Drell assassins _and_ the Shadow Broker's agents after them."

Reegar spoke for the first time since she'd arrived.

"How're we supposed to find them, since all we know's that they're on Earth?" He said slowly.

Kolyat sighed, brow furrowed.

"Well, we know they were at New Nassau on Elysium, and at Keres on Kahje. They're both the capital cities of those worlds." He turned again to Oriana.

"What's the capital of Earth?" He asked.

"There is no capital." She said, frowning. "Earth is divided into four regional governments."

Kolyat was silent again.

"Which of the four is Shepard from?"

"The North American States. I think she was born in New York City. Which _is_ the capital of that region." She said, quirking an eyebrow.

"Then we should probably start there." Kolyat said, surveying them. Oriana nodded, then Reegar did.

"It's as good a start as any." Tali said, throwing up her hands and stalking off to tell Mordin.

* * *

They landed a few miles outside the JFK Concourse at 4 AM local time. It was late March on Earth, and in New York City the morning air was frigid and damp.

Since no one landed or departed within 500 miles of New York City without being thoroughly documented, she'd commissioned EDI with forging the necessary credentials. There was no question of landing at the spaceport itself, since the _Shadow_ was obviously not, to anyone with even the barest knowledge of starships, a Volus freighter.

They had landed, to be exact, in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn, at a storage facility known by Shepard for being lax in their documentation of what was actually contained in their compartments.

Shepard had been born, as far as she knew, in the sprawling maze of New York City, and had spent the next years in dubious foster care and on the streets. It was an inglorious beginning to her life, and she hadn't thought on it much since it had ended. On her 18th birthday, she swaggered (in a state of complete ignorance) into an Alliance recruitment office. She signed a few papers, took a few tests, and was on Jump Zero getting a very extensive collection of vaccinations less than a week later.

Now, more than ten years after that pivotal moment, the streets of Brooklyn seemed...narrower, the buildings less hulking, the shadows less deep.

In her youth Shepard had covered fear with bravado and a big mouth. In later life, the military and subsequent, stranger adventures, had embued her with real confidence. Nothing here could touch her. She'd turned into the person that before, she'd pretended to be.

And the people who tended to congregate on the streets of Red Hook at four in the morning could, evidently tell. She and Thane were given a very wide berth.

The Drell were rare enough on Earth that his presence would almost certainly be noticed. Thankfully, Cerberus had equipped them with cold weather gear, which was beneficial not only against the chill of late winter in New York, but succeeded in concealing Thane from any watching eyes. Beside her, his gait was casual, a hood pulled low over his face, black leather gloves obscuring, to a casual observer, his syndactic fingers.

So far, the only plan they had was to establish a hard-link between their omni-tools and an Extranet public access point, then let EDI analyze the financial transactions taking place in the city for irregularities. Surely, the Shadow Broker was funneling the vast sums of money she had at her disposal through front companies and enterprises. Shepard was relying on EDI's extraordinary abilities at data-mining to sift through all the numbers and to uncover shady dealings.

One problem was that New York City had roughly 1.5 million businesses operating out of it, and Shepard reckoned that about a quarter of them were shady.

"_Siha_, I think that we are close." Thane said then, very quietly. She turned abruptly, but of course the all-concealing hood kept her from searching his face.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because we are being followed."

"Hmm. Humans?"

"Yes." He said, his tone completely flat.

"Oh dear." Shepard sighed.

"I don't see them at all." She murmered.

"That's why I think we're getting close: the assassins are getting better." He said, and when he turned to look at her, and from beneath the shadows of his hood, she could just make out a smile.

* * *

They approached Earth far after he was ready for them to. Kolyat sat quietly in his cabin, hands folded under his chin, with a Hahne-Kedar assault rifle across his back and a Carnifex sidearm on his hip for the last hour, trying not to let his mind race. A Siarist from early on in life, Kolyat had learned many mantras...and he had recently cycled through about 40 of them.

He wondered how much Shepard and Thane had managed to accomplish during the lead they had on the _Neelena_. If they'd already found the Shadow Broker, things would be...complicated.

Someone rapped on his cabin door.

"Kolyat. We're about to hit Earth's atmosphere." Tali said, her voice slightly muffled.

He stood, zipping up his jacket, checking his weapons one final time, and palmed the door open.

Kolyat's boots clanged slightly on the metal deck as he strode toward the cockpit, eyes made wide by what he saw.

Tali and Reegar stood together, looking out the transparent aluminum window of the cockpit. Mordin sat in the pilot's seat, busy with security protocols on the computer.

New York City was a line of jagged, gleaming metal on the horizon. The sun was just coming up behind it, bleak and cold-looking. Beneath them was a vast blue-black sea. They raced over the ocean at not quite the speed of sound, and the closer they got, the larger the city loomed.

They were rapidly falling in with other vessels of all shapes, sizes, and purposes, all headed into the capital of Earth's North American States.

"I counterfeited some Asari Merchant's Guild vessel credentials. _Keelah_ willing, they'll pass security." Tali said, arms crossed, shaking her head.

"Why not just use the Flotilla's?" Kolyat asked.

Tali looked over to him, her head tilting in what he had learned was an exasperated gesture.

"A Quarian vessel would raise _many_ red flags. Security here is some of the tightest in the galaxy." She said, then turned back to the view.

They sailed over a glimmering river, the spires of gargantuan skyscrapers, smaller, squatter museums and thin, towering human monuments, all reflecting the morning sun back at them. The city's black streets cut through the endless chaos below, some laid out in a grid-like pattern, others seeming completely random, spreading out almost organically, like veins and arteries in a cross-section of living tissue.

"Oh goddess." He said. "It's so much bigger than I thought it would be."

Earth had a reputation as being somewhat of a backwater. He had never assumed that such an isolated world could have such a megalopolis.

"What will we do? How will we ever find them?" He breathed.

"I'm glad you asked." A voice said from behind him.

He wheeled around. It was Oriana. He's almost forgotten about her.

She was wearing black and grey Cerberus reactive armor, gloves and boots, a radio reciever already in her ear. She crossed to Mordin's computer terminal and began typing. Tali and Reegar exchanged looks.

"What do you mean?" He asked her.

"Go to these co-ordinates, Mordin, and make it quick. Sounds like they're in some trouble." She said, and turned back to look at him. Mordin pursed his thin lips, but obeyed.

Oriana's face betrayed nothing. She crossed her arms over her chest.

"What is this about?" Tali said, anger edging into her voice.

"The Illusive Man ." She said, cracking her knuckles. "I just spoke to him. They're on foot, in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn, and moving fast. Her shields have modulated several times. My guess is that they're in a fire-fight right now."

Kolyat was speechless. He felt nothing. There was some sort of emotional wave about to crest, but he wasn't even sure what it was. This was too big, too unexpected.

"Shepard's armor has a tracking device. EDI has a programming block against telling her, or Mr. Krios." Oriana continued, unbidden. She was looking everywhere but at him. "Balak planted it."

_Ah, there it is, _Kolyat thought, as white-hot anger moved through him at last. Behind it was the more familiar dull ache of betrayal.

"The Illusive Man sent Balak after Shepard. And he sent _you_ after us." He said flatly.

Oriana turned back to him at last, strange pale eyes settling only for a moment. Her jaw clenched, she inhaled once, sharply.

"That's not why he sent me. And I've _stayed _because I wanted to. And Balak was nothing that Thane and Shepard together couldn't handle! The Illusive Man knew that!"

"I have no reason to believe anything you say." Kolyat said, his voice descending into a lower, more dangerous register.

"There they are!" Mordin declared suddenly, and all eyes went abruptly to viewscreen.

Below them, little black figures were scurrying across an improvised scrap wood bridge between two buildings in a line, assault rifles drawn. The first men to cross the roof were now blasting open a trapdoor down into the building.

"There's so many of them!" Tali cried.

As the spoke, they managed to blast the door off it's hinges, and all of the perhaps two-dozen men poured through the narrow gap, down into the building.

"Put us down, Mordin! Now!" Reegar said, his voice clipped. "On the roof!"

Kolyat's mind switched gears rapidly. Even if Oriana was a turncoat, at that moment her master's goals and his were the same: Protect Cerberus' two biggest 'investments'.

Kreegar and Tali pulled out their weapons in wordless tandem and strode for the airlock. Kolyat drew his Carnifex, feeling his heart knocking against his ribcage. He'd done building clearing exercises with C-Sec, but this time his enemies were not plywood representations of Geth and Batarian raiders on pulleys.

The airlock blew at last and a gust of acrid-smelling, searing hot fumes hit them. In front of him, Tali and Reegar cleared the last few feet between the _Neelena_'s ramp and the roof with a single vault, and he followed, trying to focus through the deafening noise and heat of the ship's thrusters.

He sprinted after the Quarians as they disappeared into the dark entrance. As soon as he crossed the threshold, the air turned freezing cold, his breath turning to little puffs of vapor as it left his lips.

They were in a dusty, open attic space. Pieces of broken furniture and long-abandoned Human appliances were strewn about haphazardly. Kolyat vaulted over a pile of cinderblocks and rusted paint cans, his eyes adjusting rapidly to the darkness. From behind him, he could hear Oriana scrambling to keep up with his much longer strides.

Tali and Reegar made it to a set of stairs just as distant, rapid _pops_ of gunfire rose up from deep within the building.

"I think...Thane and Shepard barracaded the lower entrance...before more men came in from above." Oriana's breathless voice crackled through the radio reciever against his throat. "They're trapped."

"Draw their fire." Kolyat grunted into his radio, clearing a short flight of stairs in one bone-jarring leap. But Tali and Kal'Reegar were ahead of him. He hear a short burst from Tali's assault rifle and then her voice ring out:

"Hey! You assholes!" She shouted, and Kolyat had just enough time to register her surprising grasp of Human obscenities before a grenade whistled past his ear.

"Incoming!" He bellowed, hoping that Oriana could hear over the din of the firefight. He threw himself sideways, through an open doorway, as the grenade went off. He didn't hear it, because it completely deafened him. He only felt it move through the sensitive bones of his throat, and saw dust and plaster rain down around him.

He scrambled into a crouch and sidled up to the doorway again. He risked a glance down the hallway. This building had definitely, at some point, been an apartment complex. The hallway was long and narrow, flanked on both sides by numbered doors. Black-clad figures were ducking out around doorways intermittently, exchanging fire with Tali and Reegar, who had gotten separated, and were now firing from two different points.

"Oriana?" He rasped into the radio.

"I'm OK." Her small, tinny voice responded. "It's too hot up there. We have to draw them off Tali and Reegar. Get behind me."

And suddenly, the air pressure seemed to shift in that undefinable way. Then from behind him, a huge mass effect field burst, and crashed down the hallway, knocking down light fixtures and blowing out windows in every apartment that had an open front door.

Oriana was behind it, one hand raised, sprinting, dark blood seeping from her hairline, eyes narrowed, jaw clenched. Dark matter swirled around her, distorting the air. Kolyat went after her.

Another burst of energy exploded in front of her open palm, throwing several of the Human assassins who were trying to fire on them backwards with incredible force. Kolyat fired into the rooms as they went, moving as fast as they were able, while their enemies were still disoriented.

"Kolyat!" Tali cried from a doorway. The surface of her environment suit was covered in plaster dust, and she clutched one side. She reached up a hand and he caught it, hauling her to her feet easily. He looped an arm around her waist, his Carnifex still drawn, his feet still moving them forward, keeping them within Oriana's mass effect field.

"I'm fine!" She said, answering the question he had not had time to ask. "Reegar is five doors up!"

"Reegar!" Oriana shouted, her voice tight and hoarse. "Now!"

Kal'Reegar shot out of a doorway, a lithe red shadow, scrambling to his feet on Kolyat's other side.

Rounds slammed into Oriana's biotic shields. Kolyat fired over her shoulder, Tali still clinging to his side. Oriana let out a shriek, drawing her hand back and then thrusting it forward, and the ten or so men who were charging down the hall toward them were simply no longer there.

They hit the door at the end of the hall, and were in another staircase. An explosion rocked the building under their feet.

"Tali!" Kal'Reegar said, and instinctively Kolyat passed her over to him.

Oriana leaned over the railing, pale, and gulping air. Sweat stood out on her brow, her hands shaking violently.

"I won't be able to do that again." She rasped at him.

Kolyat nodded, popping a heatsink. "My turn." He said, and took the lead down to the next floor.

They burst through the door and thundered down the hallway. Kolyat's body knew what to do, now. Two rounds hit his armor but he registered that fact coolly, dispassionately. Fear had fled. He fired round after round, popping one heatsink, then another. When an assassins flew at him, Kolyat turned them aside, and Oriana and Reegar took care of them. C-Sec's lessons snapped through his head, making more sense now then they ever had. Keep moving. Clear each room and keep moving.

From ahead, an assassin appeared, but he wasn't firing at them. He was falling. There was another short burst of gunfire from the room, and he heard a woman shouting. The wall blew out beside them, taking Kolyat off his feet. He crashed into the opposite wall, abruptly taken out of his Battle Sleep. He was covered in a layer of musty debris. Clawing at the floor, he dragged himself free, standing somehow, feeling like he was in a dream.

_(A day since he left his father's hospice bed, in his cramped apartment on the Citadel, he stares at the computer screen. There's a message from Shepard. He knew the message would come soon. A lump unexpectedly forms in his throat, his heart pounds, his vision blurs. "Important Arrangements" is the subject line. Kolyat knows what arrangements she's talking about. He didn't expect to feel the emptiness he did, at the death of a man he'd barely known, whose demise he hadn't even witnessed.) _

He rounded the doorway, his hands in the air.

The air was dusty, the tangy smell of human blood everywhere, but the building was finally silent. His eyes settled first on Shepard, standing up from behind an overturned table, then on the figure in the shadows beside him.

"Kolyat." Thane said.


	15. The Adversary

_"A man can't be too careful in the choice of his enemies." -Oscar Wilde, Human author and playwright_

* * *

Someone, a very large someone, came through the doorway, his hands in the air. He limped into the wan light of Shepard's flare and the winter sun coming in through dusty windows.

It was Kolyat Krios. Thane melted out of the shadows where he'd been in wait, stepping over the corpses of three would-be assassins.

"Kolyat." He said.

"Dad." The younger Krios said, his voice so similar to his father's.

Other figures were approaching slowly, quietly, only watching, as the two embraced. She'd witnessed a similar scene to this before, but everything was different now. Kolyat wasn't a surly youngster anymore. He'd grown into a young man. Thane wasn't being stalked by death.

Kolyat pulled in a shuttering breath from atop Thane's shoulder.

"But dad...dad, you've shrunk." He said, pulling back to look down at his father.

As the dust was clearing, he could see that it was Kal'Reegar, Tali, and very unexpectedly, Oriana Lawson who stood in the doorway.

Thane let out a short, quiet laugh.

"I didn't _shrink_, Kolyat. You grew." He said, thumping his son on the back. Shepard grinned, wiping at tears, and at that moment Kolyat's eyes settled on her again.

"Shepard!" He said, wiping at his own eyes, smiling broadly. She stepped out from behind cover and he pulled her into a hug.

"I see you've followed my advice about laying low and not getting into trouble." She said dryly, when he released her.

Kolyat adjusted the collar of his jacket, clearing his throat.

"I _tried_." He said.

Shepard looked over to the small group in the doorway.

"Tali! And Kal'Reegar! How did you get pulled into this mess?" She laughed, embracing Tali, then recieving a very firm and enthusiastic hand-shake from Reegar.

Tali shrugged. "_Keelah_ only knows, on my part. As for Reegar, I'm afraid the Fleet has made him my personal bodyguard while I'm out on 'business'."

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Reegar said, then gave her a quick salute. "Ma'am. Mr. Krios. It's a pleasure, as always."

She nodded, her eyes shifting again.

"And Oriana Lawson. Am I to presume that you're the Cerberus Operative I ordered?"

Oriana stepped forward, shaking her hand and then Thane's. She gave them a lopsided smile that made her look very much like Miranda.

"_You_ sent her after us?" Kolyat asked incredulously.

"Well, in a manner of speaking. I asked the Illusive Man to make sure you were safe." She said. Kolyat and Oriana exchanged a look. When her eyes went to Thane's face she knew he'd caught it too. He shot her a sly grin.

"Where's Dr. Mordin?" Thane asked. Shepard had forgotten all about him.

"Parking." Oriana said dryly. "We made a very hasty departure from our ship."

"We should go. There will be more assassins." He said. "We will have to find Mordin on the way."

"Can everyone walk?" Shepard asked, surveying the group. Kolyat was covered in dust and plaster. Tali was leaning hard into Reegar. Oriana was pale and had a cut along her hairline that was going to require treatment.

"We'll get it done, ma'am." Reegar said finally.

* * *

Genna Ausra was born in Budapest, in the months following the final collapse of the Confederated Eastern States and their absorbsion into the European Union. The economy was ruined. Their credits meant nothing. Her mother stood in line for bread while her father robbed and scammed and stole all he could.

At 9, she killed for the first time.

At 19, she led a small criminal empire.

It had often occured to her that her life had, in some ways, paralelled that of Thane Krios.

At 32, she killed the former Shadow Broker, a Volus who'd risen through the ranks of his empire's organized crime syndicates. That same year, she cleaned house within her organization. Her predecessor had aquired a lot of extraneous associates that needed to be removed. She ran her empire on a skeleton crew. So when Thane Krios (a formerly unheard-of assassin from the absolute ass-end of space) killed several valuable assets, it hurt the business.

He was a pet project of hers for some time. Her inability to pin him down was intriguing but frustrating. Over the years he evaded her by the thinnest margin several times. She admired him, in a way.

When she was 36, she found the assassin. Or rather, his wife. It had given her no pleasure to order Irikah's death. It was only business.

Since then, Thane Krios had been a ghost. His handiwork appeared when she least expected it. He killed nine of her best men almost immediately. Her people would find them in storage lockers and under bridges. He was unstoppable. And he was hunting her, now.

At times, Genna Ausra would look at the dossier she'd gathered on Mr. Krios. She had a feeling about him. She knew they would meet face-to-face one day.

It came as a suprise when her intellegence gatherers reported his death. But their proof was irrefutable-one of them had actual infiltrated the morgue at Orlinda's Mercy Hospice and examined his corpse.

For almost a year, she slept peacefully. She kept some eyes on Kolyat Krios, Thane and Irikah's only child, and the former Commander Shepard, Thane's last lover. But Kolyat was a self-absorbed 20-year-old who was then keeping occupied with an Asari maiden, and Shepard had taken a job at the docks while grief slowly crushed the life out of her.

Then, to her disbelief, Thane Krios' name came up again in the chatter she heard from the eyes she had on Cerberus. Miranda Lawson, an old aquaintence of Shepard's, had given the captain of a small shipping vessel called the _Piper Maru _a very generous sum during a brief, unexplainable visit aboard his ship. The _Piper Maru _was, at the time, carrying Thane Krios' remains back to Kahje.

Then more money started flowing. Cerberus was pulling it in from everywhere, and funnelling it into some secret project. Miranda Lawson was, again, involved.

At this point, able the read the writing on the wall, Genna threw assassins at Kolyat and Shepard both, but she had a feeling that it was no use. Thane Krios had come back from the dead to find her. What challenge could her defenses possibly represent in comparison with that?

He moved through her mind as she slept, though she'd never laid eyes on the man in person. She looked at his dossier again and again. They would meet soon, she knew. After so many years, she almost looked forward to it.

* * *

They split into three groups, The Quarians, the Drell, and the Humans all pairing off in order to look less conspicuous.

Walking in (what she hoped looked like) a casual fashion with the rather illustrious Shepard was a surreal experience. She'd only ever laid eyes on the woman once, and that had been from a distance, and for a moment only.

Oriana kept stealing glances at the older woman as they wound their way through the narrow, crowded streets of Brooklyn in what was then the late morning.

Shepard was wearing a jacket that, to Oriana's trained eye, was lightly armored, over a hooded thermal shirt. She had the hood pulled up, her hands in her pockets. Shepard had learned to take the military cadence out of her walk, roll her shoulders forward just the slightest fraction.

Shepard was not particularly tall, and was a little thinner than Oriana remembered. She had a pretty enough face, though certainly not stunning or extraordinary. Miranda had once described Shepard as "magnetic". She pulled people and things into her and her causes effortlessly. Oriana could already agree with that assessment. There was just something about Shepard, and it didn't seem to have anything to do with her physical form. The woman had an incredible presence.

"So, Oriana. Long time no see." Shepard said then, a little smile just visible from under the shadows of her hood.

"Indeed." Oriana said. She realized that she was more than a little nervous to speak to this woman. "Two years. I hear you've been busy."

"Not as busy as you!" Shepard said.

Oriana shrugged modestly. "Cerberus offers on-the-job training."

"What does your sister think of your role in the organization?" Shepard asked dryly.

"She's not thrilled. But she also knows how persuasive Cerberus can be."

"Hmm."

They turned a corner. Oriana resisted the urge to look behind her to see if the other groups were following. Humans and a scattered few members of other races bustled around them, heading to subways stations and storefronts. No one took any notice.

"This is the easiest city on Earth to go unnoticed in, trust me." Shepard said under her breath. She was leading Oriana through a labyrinthine series of sidestreets and alleyways.

"Are they following?" Oriana said finally.

"Thane is walking drag. He'll make sure of it." Shepard said, a smile reappearing. Oriana would have found it cute if thinking of Thane didn't make her think of Kolyat. And how pissed off she was at him.

Shepard turned to look at her for the first time since they'd left the abandoned apartment building, one eyebrow cocked.

"How _is_ Kolyat?" She asked.

Oriana's eyes widened, then narrowed.

"What do you mean?"

"The Illusive Man sent you after him to report on his condition. So...what is his condition?" Shepard's tone was cool, her face serious.

Oriana cleared her throat.

"Oh. He's doing well, considering his inexperience with real combat. Actually, I've been impressed by his ability to stay alive. He was beaten pretty badly on Omega, and he was rattled when he found out that his father was alive, but other than that, he's undamaged." She said.

Shepard nodded.

"Thank you for taking this assignment, Oriana." Shepard said.

Oriana shrugged, but still felt a little thrill of pride move through her. Commander Shepard had just thanked her. In person!

"I guess that makes us even." She said, trying to sound nonchalant.

"I suppose so." Shepard said. Then, "Ah, we're here."

* * *

The _Shadow_ was in a huge, dirty room in an unkempt storage facility. Shepard, Oriana, Tali, and Reegar were already safely onboard.

Kolyat looked around furtively, checking every shadow for movement, but everything was still. In the center of a space that was all wood and dust in the yellowish light of overhead incandescent bulbs, the _Shadow_ was sleek black grace. It was all gently curving lines and hard edges. There were no insignias of any kind on her hull. She was obviously built for stealth and speed, with little room for weapons systems or, Kolyat assumed, frills of any sort.

"Are we all going to fit on here?" He asked his father.

Thane considered. "It will be...cozy." He admitted.

The ramp lowered with a smooth hiss as they approached. They stepped inside together, then watched as the ramp closed and the decon cycle started.

They stood in silence for a moment. Kolyat only looked at his father, feeling as though he was being battered around by many different feelings, some of which were in direct conflict with each other. Then words started falling out of him in a rush.

"I didn't come to see you at the end because I was afraid to. I was scared to see what the Kepral's had done to you. I didn't know what I could say to you. I left Shepard to deal with everything alone. I've felt badly about it ever since. I never thought I'd be able to tell you that. I've thought about the e-mail she sent so many-"

Kolyat realized three things: One, that he was crying, and two, that his father was embracing him. The third thing was that Thane was crying as well.

"I didn't want you to see me. I didn't want to leave you with that memory. I told Shepard to keep you away. I tried to convince her to stay away herself, but..." He snorted then, a short bitter laugh.

"You love her. Like you loved Irikah." Kolyat said.

"Yes." Thane said simply.

Thane took him by the shoulders, holding him at arms length.

"You needn't feel guilty for anything, Kolyat. You are a better son than I could have hoped for. I am...so proud of you." His voice hitched. The decon cycle switched off, the lights came up to full power, and the airlock door opened. Thane turned to leave, but Kolyat put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.

"Dad. I have to know. When you were...when you were gone, did you see mom? Did you see anything?"

Thane took a deep breath.

"No. But then again, it also wasn't my time. Not for long, anyway." He said, smiling wryly.

The bottom fell out of Kolyat's stomach. His spiritual beliefs had never had much in common with his father's-Thane's approach seemed to belong to a different time, when the ancient Drell had looked up into the night sky and seen the abode of the gods instead of the vast emptiness of space. But he hadn't expected Thane to come back from the arms of death with absolutely nothing to report.

Thane's hand clamped down on his shoulder.

"Don't be upset, Kolyat. If all the mystery was taken out of life there would be no point to living it. If you're asking me if I think I'll see Irikah again, the answer is still yes. As for the gods, the Sea...well, I'm not qualified to be a prophet."

Thane turned and palmed the door open.

Something about the smell of the air led him to believe that life-support had just recently come back online. The lighting was dim, most of it coming from glowing instrument panels. Off to his left, a tiny cabin held a metal table, chair, and a bunk, all welded to the floor like in a warship.

Tali sat at the table, while Reegar loomed over her, arms crossed over his chest. Oriana was laying in the bunk, her head already bandaged. Shepard was only a silhoutte in the cockpit, down a short hallway ahead. Kolyat tried to shake off the conversation he'd just had by immersing himself in the present. And something was wrong with the present.

"Did we not find Mordin?" Kolyat asked, immediately worried.

"I wouldn't worry too much about Mordin. He'll find us when he's ready." Shepard's voice floated down the darkened hallway.

"We could radio him." Kolyat said.

A smooth, synthesized female voice came from seemingly everywhere at once, startling him.

"Under the circumstances, long-range radio communications would present an unacceptable risk, Mr. Krios."

"Is that a VI?" He asked Thane.

"An AI." Thane said, smiling. "EDI, an old friend from the _Normandy_. And EDI, this is my son, Kolyat."

"A pleasure, Kolyat." EDI said.

"Cerberus _gave_ you an AI?" Something made him whisper, though of course the AI could hear him anyway. "Is it unshackled?"

Oriana groaned and sat up, holding her head. All eyes shifted to her.

"As I understand it," she said, getting to her feet, "EDI _chose_ to come along." Oriana stood stiffly, then came to stand in the hallway, just as Shepard was approaching from the other direction.

"And while we're on that topic," Oriana continued, "EDI: Remove programming blocks level one. Authorization code one-seven-niner-seven-niner-delta."

"Acknowledged." EDI said. "Blocks removed."

"What the hell just happened?" Shepard demanded, her face deeply shadowed in the emergency lighting. Oriana didn't respond, but started scanning Shepard with her omni-tool.

"You'll thank me later." Oriana said, and peeled a tiny something off of the back of Shepard's armored jacket. She held it up, inspecting it. It was flat black, the size of half a fingernail, maybe two millimeters thick. No wonder Shepard hadn't seen it. Oriana dropped the bug onto the deck and ground it under her heel.

"The Illusive Man had you tagged with a little help from your old friend, Balak. It was the only reason we were capable of finding you just now." Oriana was saying. "For what it's worth, I had nothing to do with it. I didn't even know until a few hours ago."

"Why didn't they just tag _me,_ while I was unconscious in the Cerberus facility?" Thane spoke up.

Oriana cleared her throat. "They did. But you're going to have to hang on to that one until we find Mordin and some proper surgical tools."

Shepard put her face in her hands.

"The Illusive Man is very thorough." Oriana offered apologetically, biting a thumbnail.

"Why are you telling us these things?" Kolyat asked, addressing her directly for the first time in hours.

Oriana returned his gaze steadily.

"The bugs served their purpose: Our team has joined up with the two Cerberus 'investments'. And if this mission is successful, the Illusive Man will be so pleased that he won't even have me killed for revealing the information." She cleared her throat. "So the mission had better be successful."

Kolyat's stomach turned for the second time in five minutes. He should have learned by now that things were never as simple as they appeared to be. Oriana was playing a very dangerous game, trying to act in their best interests while simultaneously not provoking the Illusive Man's very life-threatening ire. If she wasn't careful she was going to get herself killed.

"Well." Said Shepard, interrupting his thoughts. "On that note, EDI, would you like to share the news?"

"I believe that we have located the Shadow Broker's compound." EDI said.


	16. The Siege

_"For in the end, freedom is a personal and lonely battle; one faces down fears of today so that those of tomorrow might be engaged." Herin Lovat, Salarian philosopher_

* * *

Within moments, everyone on board had assembled at the tiny table around Shepard's laptop. She pulled up the schematics EDI had just supplied her with, her heart pounding in her ears.

"Here. The J.P. Mitchell building, in Manhattan. She's going by the name Alice Yuchenko. Earlier this year, she was part of a corporate takeover of the company. She replaced most of the board of directors and became VP. Her name was in all the papers." Shepard scrolled through myriad headlines above images of an older woman, slim, attractive, brunette.

"She's been in plain sight." Thane said. "Though she's altered her appearance since I last tracked her, I'm sure it's her. What do we know about the J.P. Mitchell building?"

Tali stood and Thane took her seat, turning the laptop to face him. This was his operation now. Shepard almost visibly saw his demeanor shift. His eyes narrowed, his lips pursed. He keyed through the information EDI had uploaded onto the computer. He was in his element, scanning the page quickly.

Thane took a deep breath, then looked up, and around. He met her eyes last.

"This is the last opportunity for any of you to leave." He said. "None of you is required to put yourselves in danger. I already owe you all a debt that I cannot possibly repay."

"Not a chance." Shepard said.

Tali snorted. "And I'm not going. If you and Shepard must do this, then I will help you."

At her side, Kal'Reegar nodded. "Where Tali goes, I go."

"Kolyat. Will you go back to the Citadel?" Thane asked. "If you leave now, it will not alter my opinion of you, or our relationship in the future. This isn't your fight."

Kolyat actually laughed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Please, dad. I would really like to make sure you don't get killed again in a moment of dramatic irony." He said.

"What about you, Oriana?" Shepard said. "There are Cerberus cells all over Earth. We could smuggle you out easily."

Oriana only shrugged, cocking one black eyebrow. "Nah. I have to make sure this big idiot doesn't get himself killed." She pointed at Kolyat with her thumb. "That is what I'm here for, after all."

Shepard grinned, surveying the little team. Some she'd known for years, others she'd only just met. All had weaved their way in and out of her life, changing her and her path. She was suddenly intensely grateful to be alive, to have such people at her side. She was on the edge, as always, but she wasn't alone.

Thane was looking around the room as well, and his eyes lingered on Kolyat's face, and then hers. He nodded again, then finally looked back to the computer screen.

"Alright." He said. "Shall we begin?"

* * *

Thane believed that the best time for their assault would be in the first hour of the business day, since security shifts would be rolling over from night shift to day. First, they would pull the fire alarm, which would clear the building of civilians, and also put the Shadow Broker and her associates on high alert. He would enter the building through a ventilation shaft at ground level.

Meanwhile, she and Kolyat would enter through the maintenance lift, then work their way through the building, moving upward toward the penthouse offices on the top floors. They would be stealthy, but not _too_ stealthy. Shepard was convinced that if they allowed themselves to be caught for a moment only by security cameras, Kolyat would be mistaken for Thane.

Tali, Reegar, and Oriana would act as a Fire Team, drawing attention away from Shepard and Kolyat.

With any luck, the Shadow Broker's team would believe that the Fire Team was meant to draw their attention away from Shepard and Thane, while the real Thane went in alone, undiscovered.

They slept for a few hours and rose before 06:00 hours. Shepard was always waking up in the pre-dawn chill, it seemed, and strapping on cold armor, feeling her pulse in her hands and face. The entire group assembled again in the cabin, checking their weapons and armor in total silence.

Thane stood a little apart, stretching slowly, his eyes closed, his breathing deliberately even. He carried only a sniper rifle and a side-arm, in addition to his ever-present collection of hidden blades. He and Kolyat had both donned hooded jackets under their armor. The group was relying on the fact that most Humans were not very adept at telling Drell apart, especially when their faces were partially concealed and they were moving very, very quickly.

Eventually, they stood together, as ready as they were likely to ever be.

They crossed the city individually while the sun was still only threatening to breach the horizon, tiny snowflakes coming down gently.

Thane was waiting in an alleyway behind the building when she arrived, arms crossed over his chest, looking intently at nothing.

When she approached he looked up at her.

"_Siha_...if we survive...if we accomplish what we were sent to do...there will never be a home for us. If we assassinate the Shadow Broker, her successors will never cease hunting us. We will be on the move for the rest of our lives." He said solemnly, looking across the empty space between them, not quite meeting her eyes.

She stepped toward him, closing the distance.

"Thane, I've always been on the move. I never knew my parents. I joined the Alliance at 18, and since then I've been stationed on a hundred warships and military bases. The only place I've ever called home is wherever you are." She said, quietly. "I'll follow you beyond the Veil if I have to."

Thane smiled, and put a gloved hand to her face.

"Is that a promise?" He said.

* * *

In only a scant few minutes, the entire team had assembled in the cramped, dark alleyway. The surrounding buildings were so tall that none of the rays of the rising sun could reach them. They were standing in their respective teams, Tali, Reegar, and Oriana, Kolyat by her side, while Thane stood alone, rolling his shoulders and stretching his arms over his head.

Shepard was nervous, but doing her best not to show it. When she was on her own, just another Marine, she had never felt nervous before a combat situation. In fact, she had earned something of a reputation for falling asleep in her harness aboard drop ships (since combat missions always seemed to start in the very, very early morning Earth time).

But now, things were different. There were too many people to worry about. Any number of things could go catastrophically wrong. The Shadow Broker had not become the most powerful information broker in the galaxy by having scruples. If she foresaw what was coming, there was no telling what she would do.

"Is everyone ready?" Thane asked quietly.

Shepard looked around at each of them. Oriana looked somber, but resolute, her face pale in the morning light, her breath coming in plumes against the chill. Kolyat took a deep breath, and she could see the tension in his face, but he only nodded. Tali and Reegar's faces weren't visible, of course, but Tali spoke.

"Fire team is ready." She said.

"Then Arashu watch after us all. Fire team, get into your position." Thane said, something like sorrow in his voice. He was putting his friends, lover, and son in danger, and it obviously weighed heavily on him.

"Be careful." Kolyat said, surprising her. Though he didn't address the statement to anyone in particular, his eyes were on Oriana. She nodded, then the three turned and slipped out of the alleyway.

Thane stepped toward Kolyat and pulled him into an embrace.

"Don't take any chances. Stay close to Shepard. If something goes wrong, I want you both to get out immediately."

"You're such an optimist, dad." Kolyat said, but he was wiping at his eyes.

_"Fire team in position." _Tali's terse voice came over their radios.

Thane released his son and approached her.

"I'll see you again, my _Siha_. Whether in this world or the next." He said, his voice almost hoarse. He put a hand in her hair and pulled her into him, his arms around her, his breath in her ear.

"Beyond the Veil together. I promise." Shepard said, hot tears welling up and dropping onto his armored shoulder.

Thane stepped away.

"I love you both." He said, then turned and looked up at the reflective surface of the building. He bent at the knees, tensing, then shot upward, grasping a handhold about eight feet up and hauling himself onto a ledge.

A breath left Shepard's body as soon as he disappeared. She wiped tears away hurriedly.

"Fire team. Thane's away. We're moving into position." She said into her radio, then nodded to Kolyat.

* * *

Tali, Reegar, and Oriana had found the alcove just where it was supposed to be, on the west side of the maintenance level of the building. Tali's hand rested on the lever of the fire alarm. Behind her, Reegar and Oriana already had their weapons drawn, their backs to her.

"Fire team. I'm in position." Thane's terse voice crackled over the radio.

Tali pulled the fire alarm and the thin wail of a klaxon went up. She started counting down silently from 100. Almost at the precise moment she reached zero, Shepard's voice came on the radio.

"Civilians are away. You're up, Fire Team. We're on your tail, Thane."

Tali ran after Reegar and Oriana, pulling her sidearm. They made for the stairwell that led to the lobby at top speed, Oriana taking the lead. She hurtled up the stairs two at a time, Reegar now falling back to cover her back.

They burst through the steel doors to the first floor. The short bursts of gunfire erupted as soon as they appeared, and in the enormous stone and steel chamber, it was impossible to tell what direction they were issuing from.

The air around them shifted, and Oriana's biotics flared to life, bathing her form in shimmering light. Teeth gritted, she made a pushing motion with her gloved hands and a concussive pop shuddered under he feet, then spread out in a semi-circle in front of her. Glass shattered, pots holding ferns and lilies burst, and finally, black-garbed assassins flew out from behind granite dividers.

"Now!" Oriana shouted, but Tali and Reegar needed no instructions. They were already in motion together, picking off disoriented guards. Tali reached the staircase as Oriana shrieked, and another series of biotic explosions shook the ground underneath her.

"Shepard!" Tali gasped into her radio.

"I'm here." Shepard's voice crackled.

"There are a lot of them, and they're Drell." Tali said, sliding to the edge of the stairs and firing down upon their attackers. Reegar was back to back with Oriana, picking off more Drell before they could reach her. Oriana's blue aura flared again, and more men were expelled from their cover.

"Shit. They must be more from the Kahje Assassin's Guild. Dammit. Dammit! Don't let them close in on you!" Shepard said.

Tali had a quick flash of memory. Once, years ago, on board the disabled Reaper, she'd seen Thane Krios put a fist into a Geth soldier's head with enough force that its CPU had popped. She groaned, leaping onto her feet as Reegar and Oriana finally reached her.

They took the steps two at a time.

"Let us take the lead for awhile, Miss Lawson." She shouted. Beside her Oriana laughed, her face red from exertion. She was literally dripping sweat.

"No arguments here!" Oriana said, as they entered the second floor.

* * *

Klaxons were still blaring in her office as the first team of intruders reached the second floor.

"Could someone please turn that off?" Genna Ausra said evenly. The noise stopped.

Her office was mostly granite, enclosed in glass. Below, New York City seemed to go on forever. The sun was rising, reflecting off the metal spires of skyscrapers and the distant Atlantic. Snowflakes whipped past, falling faster now. The city could actually see some accumulation today.

"Ma'am. Ma'am." Her Asari security head was saying.

It was still too early to tell, though. Sometimes even this time of year the sun would emerge at noon and the snow would disappear, replaced by tiny rain droplets that would disappear before they hit the ground. She could see them from up here, though. She could see everything from up here.

"Ma'am. We have to get you to the helipad." Eris was saying.

Around them, her four most trusted guards were on high alert, weapons in hands. She didn't have the heart to tell them that if Thane Krios was in the building, they were all probably going to be dead within the hour.

"Alright, Eris." She said instead. "Let's go."

Suddenly there was a flurry of movement. Eris took one of her elbows and hoisted her to her feet. One of the other Asari cocked her head, listening to her radio.

"The first team is on the third floor." She said.

"Dammit!" Eris said, still leading her toward the exit. "What happened to all the fucking assassins?"

"Five have gone dark. We have twelve more in the barrel."

"Any sight of Mr. Krios?" Genna said, already knowing the answer. Shepard and Thane Krios were in the building somewhere, and even though there were cameras pointed at every crevice of the building-including the infrastructure-they were not likely to lay eyes on either of them until it was too late.

"No sightings yet."

Two guards went ahead of her, two behind, and Eris still held her elbow, steadying her. The first guard put her hand on the wall and it slid open. Frigid air blasted into the room, snow pelted against her exposed face and arms.

The wind howled around them, almost obscuring the sound of boots on the metal catwalk that wrapped around the top floor of the building, ending at the helipad.

She leaned hard into Eris, nausea threatening. The sound of the wind was deafening, disorienting. Then, when they finally climbed the last of the stairs and stood atop the building, she realized why.

That roaring wasn't the wind.

* * *

_Beginning quote re-purposed from __Alice Walker.  
_


	17. The Convocation

_"The beginnings and endings of all Human undertakings are untidy." -Rodir Salis, Salarian exobiologist_

* * *

Shepard and Kolyat were on the fifth floor when her radio started to crackle, and an unexpected voice broke through.

"Thank you for flying Air Cerberus. This is Joker, your captain, speaking. We are expecting some turbulence, so please fasten your seatbelts and secure your heads firmly between your legs. Once again, thank you for choosing Air Cerberus-we fly the unfriendly skies!"

Shepard, running full speed down the empty maintenance tunnel beside Kolyat, broke into a grin, shaking her head.

"Who is that?" Kolyat gasped. "And what _is_ he talking about?"

"That is a very old friend of mine. And he's telling us that Cerberus will be providing air support." She grunted, pulling up her omni-tool map. "We have to make our first 'appearance' soon."

Kolyat touched the radio call button at his throat.

"Dad, are you ready?"

Shepard and Kolyat slid to a stop in front of an exit-one that led to the sixth floor of the building, where there were security cameras everywhere. From this point on, there were no more convenient maintenance passages-only the tiny ventilation shafts that Thane was currently pulling himself through.

Finally, Thane responded, a single whispered syllable.

"Go!" He said.

Shepard grinned at Kolyat, and he smiled back, adjusting his hood and tightening his grip on his assault rifle.

"Shall we dance?" He said, and kicked the door open.

* * *

"Cerberus!" Eris shouted over the screaming wind, and a lot of things happened simultaneously. Eris put herself between the enormous vessel hovering overhead and her employer (Genna couldn't help but find this amusing-as though her body would stop anything the enormous vessel was likely to fire), and bodily pushed her back down the staircase. The frigid wind was being pushed around by the ship at such velocity that it felt like it was flaying her exposed skin. There was a sudden crush of several pairs of strong hands on her simultaneously, and abruptly she was back in her office.

"Shit!" Eris declared explosively. _"Shit!" _

"If we want out, we're going to have to go through the assassins, or through a Cerberus warship. Personally, I think the odds are slightly better against the assassins." Eris' second-in-command, Anais, said. Eris went over to the video screens. On one, the fire team was still storming the lower floor conspicuously. But somewhere else in the building, she knew Krios and Shepard were moving quickly and quietly.

"If we were talking about any other assassins, I would be inclined to agree with you." She said, before Eris interrupted.

"I saw them!" She declared, pointing to the view screens. "In the sixth floor atrium, moving fast! It was only for a few frames, but I'm sure it was them."

"Them?" Genna said, lowering herself back into her chair.

"Shepard and Krios."

"Hmm. So soon." She said, admiring the fresh-cut flowers in their vase. "He's getting sloppy." Genna let out a long sigh. "Yes, I think it's about time to call in some air support of our own."

"That's the _Normandy_, Ma'am. Her Thannix cannons will tear our ships apart. I strongly suggest that we leave through the underground garage!" Eris said firmly. The other guards were staring at her, their weapons drawn now. Then all eyes shifted to her.

"Thane Krios is somewhere between us and the garage, and I assure you, none of us are capable of making it past Thane Krios." She said, putting her elbows on the desk, lacing her fingers. The roar of the _Normandy_'s engines faded suddenly, and the snow that was formerly being blasted past her windows resumed falling in a more orderly fashion.

"Scramble our fighters. And pull security away from the fire team. We need them between Krios and ourselves. They might at least slow him down." She said.

* * *

They burst into the 12th floor waiting room, and all was...quiet. Plants sat in their pots. Colorful modern art hung on the walls.

Oriana leaned hard into a wall, pouring sweat, in full biotic fatigue.

"That couldn't have been all of them." She panted, pushing more heatsinks into her weapon and pulling the slide. Her hands were trembling and she was trying very hard to conceal it.

Kal'Reegar stalked past her and into the next room, assault rifle still drawn. Tali leaned against the opposite wall, putting a hand to the side of her helmet and holstering her gun with her other hand. The radio receiver in Oriana's own ear crackled as Tali opened a channel.

"Shepard. You and Thane have been spotted." Their radio system was undoubtedly being intercepted at this point, and they needed to keep up the ruse.

"All hell is about to break loose." Tali added sincerely. Oriana couldn't help but chuckle at her usage of Human vernacular.

"Roger." Shepard's voice responded. "Thanks, fire team."

"What now?" She asked Tali as Reegar reentered the room.

"Now we keep the lower floors clear so that we can get out of here when this is all over." She said. Reegar holstered his rifle.

"Shepard and Kolyat are about to be in a heap o' trouble." He said, just before something broke the sound barrier just outside the walls of the building.

Oriana's hands went involuntarily to her ears as a sonic boom rattled the art on the walls. The sound passed through her body, thrumming through her ribcage in a way that was distinctly uncomfortable.

"Was that the _Normandy_?" She asked when she had established that all of her internal organs were still in their correct places. They had, of course, heard Joker's little announcement over their radios.

"Definitely not. If the _Normandy_ went supersonic that close it would have broken every window in this building."

"She must have scrambled fighters." Tali said. "Dammit."

"Can she _do _that?" Oriana asked, horrified.

"She's the Shadow Broker." Tali said shortly. "Who knows what organizations she has in her pocket-law enforcement, air traffic control..."

Another vessel went supersonic outside the building, and this time the entire fire team shielded their ears in unison.

"_Normandy_ must be pulling them away from the city. Cerberus wouldn't engage in a fire fight this close to the city." Oriana said, now slightly nauseated from the feeling of the sound barrier being broken only a handful of meters from her body-or maybe from using her biotics nearly constantly for more than an hour.

"Get out of here, fire team." Shepard's voice suddenly ordered over their radios. "You're not going to get another opportunity." They could hear gunfire popping in the background. Then another voice broke through the transmission.

"Yes, I agree. Get to the 14th floor catwalk, will pick you up."

"It's Mordin!" Reegar laughed. "That old..."

"Hurry, fire team. Attention being drawn to my location rather quickly." Mordin said.

"We'll take it from here, fire team!" Shepard shouted, the sounds of a firefight now mixing with radio feedback. "Get out now!"

Tali turned to look at Reegar, then back to Oriana.

"That's an order, fire team!" Shepard said, perhaps correctly interpreting their radio silence as reticence to evacuate.

At last, Oriana put her hand to her ear.

"Roger that." She said quietly.

* * *

"What's their location?" Eris barked, stuffing heatsinks into a rucksack. Behind her, Anais was still watching the security cameras, while the others systematically destroyed every computer terminal and hard-drive in the room.

"They're pinned down on the 10th floor. Eight assassins left."

"Eight left." Genna said, inspecting the fresh flowers in their vase on her desk.

She realized the truth, but knew simultaneously that it was too late.

"If there are still eight assassins left, that isn't Thane Krios." She said, but when she looked up again, Eris wasn't there. Or at least, she wasn't standing.

Thane Krios was breaking Anais' arm, her weapon flying out of her grasp in a perfect arc. Thane's booted foot shot out and tapped her behind the knee, collapsing her legs. He drove a fist into her temple. Rina fired at him from arm's length away, but he twisted out of the way, grabbing her ankle as he turned and pulling her off her feet.

Genna rose as a hail of gunfire slammed into the window to her left, shattering it. All the air was sucked out of the room. She had time to register the distant sound of the dogfight now taking place over New York harbor before her legs stopped supporting her.

She fell back into her chair, the office silent except for the whistling of the wind. She looked down at the gaping wound in her chest.

Thane holstered his weapon and knelt beside her, taking her hand. He looked up at her, his black eyes bright and clear. His hand felt cool and smooth. Around him, her guards were scattered, prone, still, her office literally destroyed. It had all happened in ten seconds, maybe 15.

"I'm sorry about your Irikah." She said, her words obscured a little by the whistling of her lungs.

"Thank you." Thane said. His voice was deep and even, beautiful, really.

"Tell me, Mr. Krios...when you died...did you go to your gods?" The color was draining out of the world, but there was no pain. Only a spreading warmth.

"Did you...see the afterlife, Mr. Krios?"

He smiled softly.

"Yes." He whispered. "It was beautiful."


	18. The Convocation, Part II

They were pinned down, crouching side-by-side behind a massive stone partition, when Thane finally radioed.

"_Siha. _Get yourself and Kolyat to the catwalk. Mordin is circling the site, waiting for you."

Kolyat's attention snapped over to her, his eyes wide. Four or five high-impact rounds pounded into their cover, but she barely noticed them.

"Is it done?" She said breathlessly.

There was a beat of silence, when even the sounds of gunfire ceased.

"Yes." He said, and time started moving again.

"Where are you?" She said, reloading.

"Pick me up on the roof. But quickly-the _Normandy _can only contain those fighters for so long."

Shepard looked at Kolyat, and together they ran, bursting through double-door and into the staircase.

"Mordin?" Shepard shouted into her radio, taking the steps three at a time. Behind her, Kolyat released a ball of biotic energy that blasted an assassin off his feet and down the stairs.

"ETA 45 seconds." Mordin's clipped voice said. "Fire team is aboard."

They thundered up the stairs, the remaining Drell assassins firing rounds that flew so close to her that she could actually feel the heat of them on the side of her face as they passed.

Shepard was counting down in her head, even as her lungs burned and her heart pounded. She only realized as they burst through the doors to the 14th floor that she'd been shot; she couldn't feel her right leg at all.

Kolyat realized at the same moment and put an arm around her, pulling her nearly off her feet, biotic energy shimmering all around them as another round hit his shields.

They ran together through an empty waiting room, and suddenly the hallway opened up into a huge, glass-enclosed catwalk. Potted plants along the smooth glass walls were being sucked at by intense wind.

"There!" Kolyat said, half-dragging her toward an open panel in the glass, beyond which a tiny metal maintenance ladder led up to the outside top of the structure. They exchanged glances. She could not climb a ladder with a non-responsive leg.

Shepard put her arm around Kolyat's neck.

"Mordin! Now, please!" She said before the frigid air pulled the breath out of her. Kolyat had gotten them out the window and was climbing slowly, but moving upward. The wind buffeted them, snowflakes felt like pieces of glass on her face.

Then suddenly the wind was hot instead of cold and it was rain that pelted them, and she realized that the _Shadow _was coming down from almost right on top of them, her gangplank extended.

"You first!" Kolyat said. She put a foot down on the metal bar, pushed herself with all her remaining strength, and leapt. There was a microsecond when she was keenly aware that she was 14 stories up, hurtling through nothingness, and then the _Shadow_ was underneath her.

She dug in with her gloved fingers and the one foot she could feel, and looked over her shoulder at Kolyat. He was in midair, arms extended. Time seemed to dialate. Wind was buffeting the tiny craft wildly, making her dip and sway.

Kolyat caught the gangplank with his upper body only, the edge of it driving the air out of his lungs with an audible sound.

She threw herself toward him, extending a hand. His hand closed around her wrist and she pulled, as white-hot agony moved both down her shoulder and into her hand, and from her hip to her toes. A stream of colorful swearing exited her mouth and disappeared into the sound of the wind.

And then he was onboard.

"Now! Now!" He shouted into his radio, and the gangplank smoothly closed.

Shepard lay gasping on the cold deck, one cheek against metal, the other being misted by decontamination fluid. She was sure that pulling a 400-plus pound Kolyat onboard had ruined some important parts of her arm and shoulder, and her leg was definitely going to need some attention at some point, but these considerations were only registering distantly.

When the inner door opened she was on her feet, and her radio.

"Kolyat and I are away. We're coming now." She said into her receiver.

Tali and Reegar were on the other side of the door, but she charged past them, limping, one boot leaving bloody prints on the deck. She barreled down the hallway to the cockpit, where Mordin was in the pilot's chair, with Oriana co-piloting.

"ETA..." She began.

"Ten seconds." Mordin finished her sentence without even turning.

"...Ten seconds. Hurry!" She said.

Fighters screamed past the cockpit, so close that all three of them ducked involuntarily. Suddenly the instrument panel lit up, klaxons going off.

"Hold onto something!" Oriana shouted, engaging the artificial gravity just as Mordin rolled the vessel 360-degrees. A volley of missiles ripped past their starboard side and disappeared out over the city, hurtling toward the Atlantic.

They rolled again, but the alarms kept sounding.

"A second volley! They've locked on!" Oriana shouted.

The pitch of the ship changed again. The city was beneath them, the shimmering surface of the J.P. Mitchell building suddenly coming up toward them very, very quickly.

"Mordin..." Kolyat said from over her shoulder.

At the last possible instant, Mordin pulled the nose of the vessel up. The building disappeared, replaced by sky, but she could still distantly feel the explosion as missiles plowed into the building behind them.

"Gangplank is down, door's open." Oriana said.

"I'm ready." Thane said, and just them she saw him, a tiny black-clad figure against the gleaming steel, darting out from the shadows and running toward the still-illuminated helicopter pad. Four figures streamed after him: the Shadow Broker's remaining assassins. She saw his biotics flare as rounds plowed into his shields.

"They're right on top of him." Kolyat said from over her shoulder. Seconds slowed to hours. If Thane stopped running, they would not be able to extract him. Round after round plowed into his shields.

"Careful, Mordin." Shepard whispered.

The _Shadow _passed over Thane's form then dipped gently, coasting only a meter from of the roof. Shepard found herself squeezing her eyes shut. Kolyat's hand gripped her shoulder. If Thane missed them, there would not be another chance. An eternity passed in milliseconds.

"I'm aboard." Thane finally panted. "Get us out of here, Mordin."

A raucous cheer went up, but Shepard was already limping toward the airlock.


	19. The Veil

_"There is no ending. It's just the place where you stop the story." -Frank Herbert, Human author_

* * *

They docked at Omega, in the slums near Mordin's clinic. Shepard and Thane were both injured-Shepard had two large holes punched through her thigh and several torn muscles in her shoulder, Thane had several broken ribs and a series of very colorful, plate-sized bruises on his back and shoulder. Luckily, both of their bodies contained several million credits worth of nanotech, and the _Shadow_ had a fully equipped med-bay.

Once they arrived, Thane was whisked off to Mordin's clinic where the Illusive Man's bug was finally located and surgically removed. Shepard had a quick check-up herself, but she didn't appear to be bugged, or permanently injured.

Kolyat was unsure exactly what to say to his father. As always, there wasn't much time. He had just killed one of the most powerful people in the galaxy. He wasn't sure if Thane and Shepard would be forgotten in the inevitable scramble to fill the power vacuum, or hunted by the remnants of Genna Ausra's empire, but they weren't about to wait around and find out.

There were a few words exchanged in Mordin's empty clinic, a round of handshakes and hugs, and they were gone-disappearing back into Omega's dark corridors. They would lay low for awhile, Thane had told him. Take the _Shadow_ and go out beyond the Veil. But they would be back. They weren't sure when, but they would be back. His father told him he loved him, and for once he said it back. And meant it.

Tali, Kal'Reegar, Mordin, Oriana, and himself sat in the clinic's darkened operating suite for some time in exhausted silence. Finally, the Quarians wandered into the office to contact the Migrant Fleet, and Oriana went...somewhere, presumably to request extraction from her Cerberus handlers.

Mordin stood at some point, collecting his surgical instruments and switching off his equipment.

"Where were you that whole time we were on Earth, old man? I was worried." Kolyat asked him.

Mordin smiled. "Been in Intel since before you were born. No need to worry." He said, tactfully not answering the question.

Kolyat snorted. "So what will you do now?"

"Do now?" Mordin said, looking up and cocking his head to the side. "Will keep operating clinic. Omega needs me. Already 'laying low', as the elder Mr. Krios said. How do _you_ plan on 'laying low', young Mr. Krios?"

Kolyat leaned back into his chair, crossing his arms over his chest and blowing out a long breath.

"I haven't had time to think about it. I don't suppose I can just go back to C-Sec like nothing happened." Kolyat mused, having a little moment of silence for his C-Sec training, his apartment in the Wards, and all of his worldly belongings.

"Could stick around Omega for awhile. A lot of good to be done here. Like C-Sec but without the rulebook."

Kolyat shrugged. "I'll think about it." He said, but he was smiling.

At that moment, Oriana reappeared from the hallway.

"I'm off. It was nice to work with you, Dr. Solus. Kolyat. Take care." She said, not particularly looking at him at any point. Mordin made a little bow, and she disappeared again.

* * *

Kolyat caught up to her at the docks. She'd shed her armor in favor of faded black cargo pants and a hooded sweatshirt. Just another traveler, passing through Omega. She could hear his footfalls from several meters away. He had not inherited Thane's light step.

"Oriana." He said, falling into step beside her, close enough to touch. He still smelled like heat-sinks and cordite. "Where are you headed?"

She didn't respond until they'd waded through the crowd and entered an empty corridor.

"You're not doing very good things for my cover right now, Mr. Krios." She said, shaking her head. "I'll head back to headquarters, for what will likely be quite a debriefing."

"I'm sorry I was an asshole, before." Kolyat said. "I didn't understand. I do, now."

Oriana smiled a little. "I have to know-is 'asshole' a Drell expression, too? Or did you borrow it from Shepard?"

"Shepard. She's a bad influence."

"Ah."

They walked together for a few more beats before he spoke again.

"Will I see you again? I mean-" He cleared his throat, then finally looked her in the eyes. "Can I see you again?" His eyes were nearly-black but somehow very expressive. Currently, he looked endearingly vulnerable. He arched a brow ridge, pursing his lips. "I'd like to see you again."

She laughed, feeling a blush starting.

"It could happen." She said, nodding. "Goodbye, Kolyat. For now."

They were approaching the dock. She held up her datapad to a guard, who scanned her e-ticket. Then she passed through the security gate.

On the other side, Kolyat was shouting.

"How will I find you?" He said.

"I'll find _you_." She said, and threw him a wink over her shoulder.

* * *

Tali and Kal'Reegar had successfully hitched a ride back to the Migrant Fleet within only a few hours-tagging along with a young girl who was returning from Pilgrimage.

"It's too bad about the _Neelena_." She said conversationally to Reegar. They were crammed into the tiny personal quarters of what had once been a one-man Volus vessel. Which meant that the bunk they were sitting upon just barely contained them, sitting side by side. The _Neelena_ hadn't been exactly comfortable, but it was positively spacious in comparison to their current accommodations. At least it would be a short trip. And their host had taken the first shift.

"Don't worry, ma'am. The Fleet will pick her up when things quiet down a bit on Earth." Reegar said.

In fact, in comparison to the sites of some of Shepard's earlier exploits, the city of New York had gotten off fairly easy. Even the J.P. Mitchell building was only cosmetically damaged-though it was definitely about to be under new management.

"Thanks for coming with me, Reegar. We couldn't have done it without you." Tali said, feeling like anything she was likely to say was inadequate.

"Call me Kal, ma'am."

"Only if you stop calling me 'ma'am'."

Kal considered. "I'll do my best." He said, finally. She could hear him smiling even though she couldn't see it.

"Looks like we'll be sharing a room again, though I suppose this time we'll both be on the floor together." Tali said conversationally, surveying the miniscule bunk.

"I suppose so." Kal said.

Tali was surprised. "I haven't scandalized you?"

"Not yet." Kal said. "But a man can dream_._"

Tali smiled to herself. "Hopefully you can do more than dream." She said, squeezing his knee.

* * *

Thane piloted the _Shadow _out of the docks, but she didn't release the breath she was holding until the Relay was setting off their proximity alarms.

On the displays in front of her, a bar was slowly filling. They were currently uploading EDI onto the massive servers in Mordin's lab. He would, he assured them, pass her onto Cerberus as soon as possible.

"I've enjoyed time together, Shepard, Thane." EDI said then, as though she knew what Shepard was thinking.

"Thank you for everything, EDI. I hope we'll meet again." Shepard said, feeling legitimately like she was saying goodbye to a crewmate and friend.

"I hope so as well." Thane said. "We owe you a debt of gratitude."

"Upload 97% complete." EDI said. "Goodbye, friends, and good luck."

Then the bar filled, and disappeared. There was a moment of silence. They'd now said goodbye to everyone, ready to go to ground, to disappear. Thane was very good at disappearing. She would miss her friends and Kolyat (whom she couldn't help but count as family), but she also felt an exhilarating sensation of freedom. They were really, finally free.

Thane looked over at her.

"What's our destination, my S_iha_?" He said. He was only halfway referencing, she suspected, where she wanted to travel to.

"Anywhere. Everywhere. As long as we're there together." She said.

Snarls of energy thrown off by the Relay buffeted their craft, bathing them in blue light.

He nodded. "That sounds...perfect."

By tomorrow they could be watching the dawn break on worlds that no Human or Drell had ever stood upon. Or they could still be hurtling through the starry void, on the edge of known space or beyond it. For the moment, it didn't much matter.

In the instant before the Relay captured them, he took her hand.


	20. Author's Notes

It's over! Thank you so much to everyone who has read, and especially reviewed this story. If you haven't already, please check out my other Thane/Shepard stories, as they all happen in this same continuity. I'm debating a more humorous, less heavy sequel. I think we could all use a good laugh after ME 3.

Needless to say, it's been a few years. When I started writing _Shadows_, ME 2 had just come out, and there was so much excitement and energy surrounding it. I loved being part of that community of fans, and especially loved being creative with other people who were doing similar things. I'd like to dedicate this story to you creative types in general, and _especially_ to the lovely people of the Neck Snap Appreciation Society who I enjoyed wasting tons of time with debating things like whether or not Drell chicks have boobs.

Well, it's been a blast, and I've loved writing this and hearing from all of you.

Thanks, friends.

-JL


End file.
